Carrie Fisher‘s brother Todd has publicly fumed at not being invited to see her posthumously get a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
The Star Wars actress – who was witty and frank about her battles with addiction and bipolar disorder – died in 2016 at the age of 60 after going into cardiac arrest on a plane with cocaine, morphine and ecstasy in her system.
One day later her grief-stricken mother, Singin’ In The Rain star Debbie Reynolds, died of a stroke after telling Todd: ‘I want to be with Carrie.’
Now Todd, who was close to both Carrie and Debbie, has told TMZÂ it was the family who froze him out of their 30-seat guest list.Â
‘Frankly, it’s a distressing situation and I don’t deserve to be put in this position,’ said Todd, insisting that if Carrie had her way he would be asked to the event.
The way they were: Carrie Fisher’s brother Todd has publicly fumed at not being invited to see her posthumously get a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame; pictured 2014
Throwback: Carrie, pictured in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, died in 2016 at the age of 60 after going into cardiac arrest with cocaine, morphine and ecstasy in her system
‘As the only brother of the Carrie Fisher, being omitted from this special day is truly hurtful,’ calling his exclusion ‘extremely hurtful and distressing as I was always a big part of everything my sister and mother did historically over their lifetimes.’
He noted that he and Carrie were in attendance when Debbie got her second star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame for live performance in 1997.
Debbie received her first star on the Walk Of Fame for motion pictures in 1960, and five years later she got to place her hand- and footprints in front of what was then Grauman’s Chinese Theatre with little Carrie and Todd standing by.
Todd has now said that he himself kick-started the process to procure Carrie a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, which she will finally get this Thursday.
The date is May 4 – known as Star Wars Day because of the pun ‘May The Fourth Be With You’ – and apparently the final seating arrangement for the ceremony is in the hands of Disney, which controls the sci-fi franchise.Â
Todd claims that when he protested his snub, Disney told him that Carrie’s family had already occupied their allotted seats and the final decision was up to them.
To hear him tell it, he was also advised not to bring the matter to Carrie’s daughter Billie Lourd and cause her any further strain.
Billie, who has followed her family’s footsteps into acting, will be on hand at Thursday’s ceremony to accept the honor on her mother’s behalf.
One day after losing Carrie her mother Debbie Reynolds died of a stroke, having told Todd: ‘I want to be with Carrie’; Debbie and Todd are pictured in 2011
Retro: Debbie, pictured with Carrie and Todd in 1985, shared her children with her first husband Eddie Fisher, who left the family to run off with Elizabeth Taylor
‘It’s heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister, Carrie,’ Todd said.Â
Todd and Carrie were Debbie’s children by her first husband Eddie Fisher, a singer who infamously abandoned the family to run off with Elizabeth Taylor.Â
Carrie was always blisteringly frank about her life, both in semiautobiographical novels like Postcards From The Edge and memoirs like Wishful Drinking.
Her celebrated writing included the screenplay for the movie of Postcards From The Edge starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine, as well as a one-woman show of Wishful Drinking that became an HBO special.
Two years after his mother and sister died, Todd himself wrote an intimate memoir called My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie And Debbie.Â
He confessed that Carrie was ‘a little angry at me’ during their final conversation, partly because ‘there was always different tension between the family of mom, particularly myself, and Carrie, as it related to her drug use at the time.’
Todd recalled: ‘But when Carrie and I got face-to-face, there was no way to have any of that. It just melted away, because the blood, the relationship between brother and sister, the bond, is so deep.’
He wrote that Carrie ‘broke down’ in front of him the last time she spoke to him and said: ‘We have to be OK with each other. It’s the foundation.’Â
Legacy: Carrie’s daughter Billie Lourd, who has followed her family’s footsteps into acting, will be on hand at Thursday’s ceremony to accept the honor on her mother’s behalf