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Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd, is speaking out in response to remarks made by his niece, Billie Lourd, on why he wasn’t invited to Carrie’s Walk of Fame ceremony.
Todd spoke with ET on Wednesday and addressed claims Lourd recently made in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter in which she accused Todd of trying to “capitalize” on her death.
“I take issue with what she said on every level,” Todd told ET. “There was no money made on anything.”
Carrie died on Dec. 26, 2016 at 60 years old. The next day, the actress’ mother — and Lourd’s grandmother — the iconic performer Debbie Reynolds, also died at 84.
“I did one 20/20 interview, and I didn’t charge for that,” Todd shared. “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.”
“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,” Todd continued. “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.”
Carrie — who famously played the iconic Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise — will be posthumously honored with a star on the Walk of Fame on May 4, colloquially known as Star Wars Day. Lourd confirmed that she had intentionally not invited Todd, or Carrie’s sisters, Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher.
“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,” Lourd said in her statement to THR. “I found out they had done this through the press. They never consulted me or considered how this would affect our relationship.”
“Though I recognize they have every right to do whatever they choose, their actions were very hurtful to me at the most difficult time in my life. I chose to and still choose to deal with her loss in a much different way,” Lourd’s statement continued.
When asked how Todd felt about being left out of the Walk of Fame ceremony guest list, he said he felt it wouldn’t be something Carrie would have wanted.
“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,” Todd said. “Because there is absolutely no way that Carrie wouldn’t want me there.”
According to Todd, he and Carrie were raised and taught by their famous mom to stand by one another and look after each other.
“That was the way we were brought up. We’re very family-oriented, even though we didn’t necessarily always agree with everyone of our family members,” Todd said. “We had regular get-togethers, and we exchanged those moments.”
“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,” he said. “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.”
Todd said that he isn’t angry with Lourd, but simply disappointed at the turn of events and doesn’t share her perspective.
“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,” Todd said. “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,” he added.
As for any possibility of a reconciliation in the future, Todd said that it would be “entirely up to her.”
“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,” he said. “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.”
Lourd’s earlier statement came on the heels of Todd telling TMZ on Tuesday he was upset over being snubbed from the guest list. Shortly after that, Joely posted a lengthy statement on Instagram decrying Lourd’s remarks as well.
Lourd, who is very private about her life and shares two children with husband Austen Rydell, addressed Todd and Joely’s statements, saying that their public statements “once again confirms that my instincts were right.”
She added, “To be clear — there is no feud. We have no relationship. This was a conscious decision on my part to break a cycle with a way of life I want no part of for myself or my children.”
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