Carrie Fisher’s Siblings Not Invited To Hollywood Star Ceremony
Billie Lourd didn't invite Carrie Fisher's siblings to the Walk of Fame ceremony because of a rift in the family.
With a special ceremony scheduled to honor the late Star Wars actress and Hollywood icon Carrie Fisher, the Princess Leia performer’s daughter has come forward with a rare statement to the press. Billie Lourd, best known for her roles on American Horror Story and the Fox horror comedy Scream Queens, explained via The Hollywood Reporter that her aunts and uncle would not be invited to the Hollywood star ceremony, as the family are not on speaking terms. Lourd explained that her comments came in response to public backlash she received from not inviting her late mother’s siblings, explaining that their very different grieving process drove a wedge between the family.
Even as an actress herself, Carrie Fisher’s daughter has always chosen to keep her personal life as private as possible, rarely making public statements outside of her commitments to film and television. That changed this week, when the 30 year-old performer chose to air her grievances in response to statements her family members made to TMZ. Apparently, Lourd felt that she needed to defend herself against the cruel comments made to the press by her uncle, Todd, and two aunts, Joely and Tricia, who felt slighted due to their exclusion from the May the 4th event.
Carrie Fisher’s family of course suffered a great tragedy when the star unexpectedly passed away at the age of 60 back in 2016, with her mother, legendary performer Debbie Reynolds passing away just a day later. Grief of this nature can often lead to fracturing family dynamics, with many people feeling the rippling effect of heartache and coping with their losses in different emotional capacities. For Billie Lourd, this meant quietly processing her trauma away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi, choosing to come to terms with her losses in solemn and contemplative solitude.
According to her statements to the press, Lourd took issue with her uncle and aunts’ grieving process, which she describes as capitalizing on the media firestorm surrounding Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing by selling books and doing many interviews. While Lourd prefaces her statements with a disclaimer, explaining that she knows many people approach the grieving process differently, she concludes that her feelings were hurt when the rest of her family failed to consult her before parading through the press, disregarding her feelings on the matter entirely. In fact, Lourd specifies that she only learned of her family’s public statements through the press rather than being forewarned in a private discussion.
Unfortunately, this led to the family becoming highly fractured, with Billie Lourd stating she has no relationship or contact with her mother’s siblings. This was made further evident by the fact that the family seems to communicate exclusively through the media and statements made to TMZ, rather than utilizing private channels for a discussion that would likely be better kept between the family. While Todd, Joely, and Tricia feel that Carrie Fisher would want them in attendance, Billie Lourd maintains that she made the right choice by excluding them from the guest list.
