Billie Lourd has issued a rare public statement ahead of her mother’s posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, Thursday May 4.
The 30-year-old actress, daughter of Carrie Fisher who died in December 2016, confirmed she intentionally did not invite the Star Wars legend’s siblings to her mother’s induction ceremony.
“The truth is I did not invite them to this ceremony,” she said in a statement obtained by E! News. “They know why.”
Her statement comes after Fisher’s siblings publicly stated they were not invited to their sister’s ceremony “for some bizarre, misguided reason.”
On May 2, Fisher’s brother Todd, 65, spoke with TMZ.
“It’s heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister, Carrie.”
He was shocked to be left off the guest list, especially since he claimed he was the one who began the campaign to get Carrie a star.
“… I was always a big part of everything my sister and mother did historically over their lifetimes.”
The following day Carrie’s sister Joely Fisher, 55, shared a carousel of photos on Instagram along with a caption explaining to fans her anticipated absence from her sister’s Walk of Fame ceremony.
“In response to all of you asking whether or not we will be part of the celebration…. Strangely we won’t be in attendance to celebrate our sister, whom we adored,” she wrote. “For some bizarre, misguided reason our niece has chosen not to include us in this epic moment in our sister’s career.”
“This is something Carrie would have definitely wanted her siblings to be present for. The fact that her only brother and two sisters were intentionally and deliberately excluded is deeply shocking,” she continued. “We have all been grieving the loss of our favorite human for some years now…we have given Billie the space to do that in her own way. We have been nothing but loving and open, consistently.”
While her aunts and uncle claimed they weren’t clear on why they were left off the guest list, Billie said it was due to their alleged behavior during the days after her mother and grandmother Debbie Reynolds died.
“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,” Billie said. “I found out they had done this through the press. They never consulted me or considered how this would affect our relationship.”
Joely released a book in 2017, and Todd released a book about growing up with Carrie and Debbie in 2018.
Billie said that while she recognizes everyone grieves differently, “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.”
She stated that not inviting Carrie’s siblings was a “conscious decision” in an effort to “break a cycle with a way of life I want no part of for myself or my children.”
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It’s sad when families are unable to get along, especially to honor another family member’s memory. Hopefully both sides will still be able to put aside their differences and honor Carrie Fisher.
