Carrie Fisher is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday — May the Fourth for those paying attention. Her daughter Billie Lourd “will be accepting the star on behalf of her mother.” Such a sweet family moment, right? But we learned just a day before the ceremony that the Star Wars star’s siblings were NOT invited.
Carrie’s actress half-sister Joely Fisher complained on social media that she and sis Tricia Leigh Fisher complained “our niece has chosen not to include us in this epic moment.” Carrie’s brother Todd Fisher told TMZ in a statement he was “intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event” — something which he found “extremely hurtful and distressing” since he “was always a big part of everything my sister and mother did historically over their lifetimes.” Mm-hm.
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In her strong statement confirming the disinvite, Billie blasted her aunts and uncle, saying “they know why” they aren’t invited! Damn! She claimed they profited off Carrie and Debbie Reynolds‘ deaths, saying:
“Days after my mom died her brother and her sister chose to process their grief publicly and capitalize on my mother’s death, by doing multiple interviews and selling individual books for a lot of money, with my mom and my grandmother’s deaths as the subject.”
The Booksmart star made it clear she and her mom’s siblings haven’t had a relationship of any kind since then.
Well, Todd is hitting back. In his first statement he implied this was the first he was hearing of a rift with Billie — which seems a little odd to us, given he should have noticed the fact he didn’t speak to her for seven years, or, you know, meet her children…
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Speaking to ET, he is directly addressing the accusation he profited off his mother and sister’s deaths, saying about Billie’s statement:
“I take issue with what she said on every level. There was no money made on anything.”
Todd wants to give everyone an itemized receipt for his actions while he’s at it, explaining:
“I did one 20/20 interview, and I didn’t charge for that. I only did that because the pundits were making a big deal out of the fact that my mother died of a broken heart. And it was really annoying me because I didn’t agree with that analysis.”
He continued:
“Then, months and months later, I wrote my personal memoir, called My Girls, which is a book about my sister and my mother and our life together over sixty years. That book, it’s an homage to them. And it’s not about their death, it’s about their life. There’s less than one chapter about death.”
OK, yes, it’s not about their deaths. But it’s a book about them in the wake of their deaths. And it’s very, very much about them as it’s called My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie. One could certainly see how Billie could, in hindsight, see TV interviews as potential promo for that kind of book.
So now we at least understand the feud, right? No matter whose side you land on, that’s what it’s all about.
But Todd thinks his niece went too far in banning him from the star ceremony, saying:
“Well given the fact that Carrie went out of her way to invite me to every single premiere she ever had, as I was always the plus one, including the final Star Wars premieres….it’s very hurtful and disconcerting. Because there is absolutely no way that Carrie wouldn’t want me there.”
He added:
“That was the way we were brought up. We’re very family-oriented, even though we didn’t necessarily always agree with every one of our family members. We had regular get-togethers, and we exchanged those moments.”
Inneresting. Billie said in her statement she’s trying to break a particular cycle, especially when it comes to raising her own children. So we guess she disagrees with exchanging all the moments even with family members you don’t agree with?
Ultimately Todd maintains he did nothing wrong, however, adding:
“I was brought into this earth to be Carrie’s companion and I’ve been connected to her that way and I have been responsible for her legacy. I have done my best to hold up the light that my mother put forward, and trained us on how to behave certain ways and I believe that I have done that.”
He argues he and his siblings let her grieve the way she wanted — and now she’s the one being unfair:
“It’s not that I’m insensitive to the stress, the pain that one feels when you lose a loved one. And for somebody as young as she was at the time, you know, we gave her an enormous amount of support and room to breathe. We just let her do what she wanted to do. Nobody made her say anything, do anything, and that’s good… But now this is seven years later, and I really don’t see how it’s appropriate to play that card anymore.”
It’s clear he’s upset about not going to the ceremony. Todd says if they’re to reconcile as a family after all this, well, that’s “entirely up to her.” He once again invokes his late sister, saying:
“I am big enough to say that I know that Carrie would want us all not only to be friends but to have a relationship. I would be always open to having a relationship with her, but if she doesn’t want one I certainly don’t have any intentions of making an effort to force it upon her.”
Hmm. Where do YOU fall on this family feud, Perezcious readers? Is Billie being unfair? Or does she know her family well enough to know exactly what they’re like??
[Image via DJDM/WENN.]
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