Loved her movies (well, except for ‘Tammy and the Doctor’) when I was a kid. Lord almighty I cannot imagine the feeling of grief in that family at this moment. Debbie may be gone, but she is still unsinkable.
Goes to show you can actually die from a broken heart.
This seems like the classic story of someone dying from a broken heart, I kind of wonder if Debbie Reynolds deep down somehow felt like she had to take care of Carrie, that Carrie needed her, and when Carrie died she just kind of felt like she didn’t need her in this world any more. I had a great grandmother who had throat cancer (mind you, I am talking in the early decades of the 20th century), who was supposed to only live for 6 months to a year, who lived another 15, and my mom swore it was because she 'had to take care of poppa" (my mom’s maternal grandfather), who among other things was a serious alcoholic and had a number of health issues. She died 2 weeks after he did (my mom was telling the truth, when my mom’s brother was laid to rest we saw their headstones).
Let me preface this unpopular reaction by saying I am a big fan of Ms Reynolds’ body of work, and respectful of how much she herself had been through in life. Yet, having read Carrie Fisher’s early books, it seems their relationship was troubled at least in part by Debbie’s need to always be the center of attention and eternal criticsm of her daughter. So my first reaction was that even in death, her mother had to have the spotlight. I hope heaven offers them peace and happiness at last.
@greenbutton A friend who is a huge Carrie Fisher fan imagines that Debbie shows up in heaven and Carrie just says “Seriously?”
Yes, exactly!
^^^ lol at the three above posts, I could just see that after seeing Carrie’s stage show on HBO. I kind of agree with what Orson Scott Card evokes in his “Ender” series, I don’t think we do someone who passed away a service by sugarcoating their life. I think like all human beings Debbie Reynolds had many facets, some good, some not so good, and in some ways I am sure her mom might have been the root of the more than a few issues Carrie had. That said, we can mourn someone who isn’t perfect as much as we mourn someone we thought of as perfect, and I think with Debbie Reynolds what I would say is that her performances on the screen over the years gave me more than a bit of enjoyment (god, how she did what she did in “singing in the rain”, keeping up with Kelly and O’Connor, was amazing), and if her personal life was not so stellar, it means to me she was human, and I suspect she paid for those faults during her life, somehow I think she recognized her own role in Carrie’s problems. I hope if there is an afterlife that they can reconcile, and leave the pain and such back in this life.
Interesting perspectives here:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/29/507384487/is-it-possible-to-die-of-grief
Anyone who saw ‘Postcards from the Edge,’ Carrie’s semi-autobiographical book/movie, knows that growing up with Debbie Reynolds as a mother was no walk in the park, according to Ms. Fisher. Love takes many forms, as we all know.
Growing up with Eddie Fisher as a dad didn’t help either, although Debbie gave him props for being the only husband who didn’t steal from her. Nobody’s mentioned Carrie’s half-sisters, Joely and Trisha Lee Fisher. I’m sure they’re devastated too.
Yeah, but we also know from Carrie’s own admissions that she was no perfect person herself, and brought more than her fair share of chaos to her relationships, that with Debbie just one among many.
You know what I just realized? Debbie was 84; Carrie was 60; so Debbie had her at 24 (I’m slow, I know). Which is really pretty young to be a mom especially if you’re pursuing a demanding career. So I cut Debbie some slack if she wasn’t the perfect mother. I know I’m not.
For a woman to have a first child at 24 was common at that time.
I never comment on anybody’s parenting skills. I could never say that I will be better.
According to this ABC interview with Todd Fisher, the upcoming HBO documentary about the lives of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds has been moved up from March to next Saturday, January 7th.
Wonder if Carrie’s ex-husband, Paul Simon, will sing “Mother and Child Reunion” at the memorial.
A facebook “friend” posted the interview Oprah did with Debbie and Carrie. I haven’t read Postcards from the Edge and haven’t seen the movie. After watching the two of them interact on TV --I don’t know exactly when but it was after Carrie became ta Jenny Craig spokesperson–I came away thinking I would have really liked Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds…not so much. However, it was kind of sad when Carrie pointed out that Debbie’s own mother was abusive and Debbie tried to correct her…pretty unsuccessfully.
He walked out when she was a year and a half old, and really didn’t see much of her until she was fully grown. Carrie said he had four kids and didn’t even buy life insurance. When he died, they each got a quarter of nothing. She said she could only have a relationship with her dad when she gave up the idea of him ever being a dad to her.
It’s so sad that her brother is named Todd. I can guess where that name came from—and I think everyone else could too, especially back then.
2011
I don’t think it was ever a secret. Eddie Fisher and Mike Todd were best friends, at least in EF’s mind as indicated in his autobiography.
Saw a clip of a Carrie Fisher oration at some NGO event. Hilariously she said that the best thing Debbie ever did as mother was to get Eddie Fisher out of the house.
@LakeWashington What she said was the best thing Elizabeth Taylor ever did for her was to get Eddie Fisher out of their house.
Although not a surprise, I guess it is official:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/debbie-reynolds-cause-of-death-revealed/ar-BBy5GD2?li=BBnbfcL
Makes me wonder if she always had high blood pressure, or if this was as a result of the shock of the previous 24 hours and she was just vulnerable.