Carrie Fisher, whose death I still have not recovered from, received a posthumous star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood yesterday. How that honor eluded her in life, I’ll never know. But appropriately, on May the 4th, General Leia joined Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and her mom Debbie Reynolds on the famous path. None of Carrie’s siblings attended the ceremony. The reason I know that is because Joely, Tricia Leigh and Todd Fisher all complained about it ahead of the event, pointing the finger at Carrie’s daughter, Billie Lourd, for not inviting them. Joely and Tricia Leigh issued a joint statement on Instagram, calling Billie’s decision “misguided” and claimed they’ve only been loving and supportive to mean ol’ Billie. Todd went straight to TMZ and said, “It’s heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister, Carrie.” So after having her uncle and aunts completely pulled focus from what was supposed to be her mom’s honor, Billie spoke up. She issued an official statement saying her uncle and aunts all capitalized off her mother and grandmother’s deaths while she was grieving, with no warning to her. And now, she said, there is no feud, there simply is no relationship. Here is Billie’s full statement:
I have seen the postings and press release issued by my mother’s brother and sister. I apologize to anyone reading this for feeling the need to defend myself publicly from these family members. But unfortunately, because they publicly attacked me, I have to publicly respond. The truth is I did not invite them to this ceremony. They know why.
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. I found out they had done this through the press. They never consulted me or considered how this would affect our relationship. The truth of my mom’s very complicated relationship with her family is only known by me and those who were actually close to her. 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.
The press release Todd Fisher gave to TMZ and the posting Joely Fisher placed on Instagram, once again confirms that my instincts were right. 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.
The people who knew and loved my mom at Disney and Lucasfilm have made this star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to honor her legacy possible. This moment is about Carrie Fisher and all that she accomplished and what she meant to the world. I’m going to focus on that. May the 4th be with you.
Billie is pretty clear in her statement, there’s not much to add. Obviously, the Fisher siblings are trying to whitewash their complicated relationship with Carrie now that she can’t correct them. I didn’t read any of their books, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn Todd absolutely exploited her death for his own benefit. I don’t know much about Tricia Leigh, but Joely I always thought was pretty solid with Carrie. However, they all clearly broke Billie’s heart when she was trying to process the loss of Carrie and then Debbie. To shame her for this publicly is all the evidence I need to tell me Billie made the right choice.
You’d think Billie’s statement would be the end of it but Todd just can’t help himself. He issued a rebuttal because an opportunist is gonna opportune:
We made every attempt to speak with Billie’s team regarding the invitation prior to making any public comments. Keeping the focus on Carrie Fisher, let’s put our differences aside for the hour long ceremony and move on from there. I was told It was a no go and why would I want to heighten level of emotion for his niece, going further to say if I showed up, she would not.”
I never capitalized on either Carrie or my mother Debbie’s deaths, and in no way meant to hurt Billie, and that is the truth. Billie’s father was well aware months in advance of my book, which, was a loving and truthful homage to the incredible lives, not deaths, of Carrie and mom and the 60 plus years I spent with them both.
Isn’t it Billie’s call to say whether Todd hurt her or not? Because clearly, he did. And passing the buck to Billie’s dad does not absolve anyone of blame, here. Lord, I had no idea how much Billie went through on top of the pain of losing the two most important women in her life. Of course I didn’t, because she was classy enough to keep her dirty laundry out of the press, unlike the Fisher kids who obviously grieved in dollar signs.
Photo credit: Cover Images, Getty Images and via Instagram
They are just mad they weren’t front and center for the Walk of Fame ceremony. Carrie is there only claim to fame.
I can’t speak for the others, but Joely Fisher is a TV and stage actress who was pretty prolific in the 1990s. I saw her play Rizzo in the Broadway revival of Grease.
She played Paige on Ellen back in the day. Isn’t she her half-sister though? And I bring that up only because blended families can sometimes lead to more complex family dynamics…
The siblings’ response on the Entertainment Tonight site gives better context for their side.
Read this and was Team Billie.
Read that and am now Team Sad.
Canceling people is easy, but is it right or fair?
Ultimately it’s for the next of kin to decide. They are the one(s) who had the greatest bond. Especially in this case…a close mother and daughter…
If I died tomorrow my kids know I wouldn’t want my brother at my funeral. What’s the point? He isn’t here now. Hope that clears things up re: Carrie’s (likely) wishes being carried out via her adult daughter.
Good for Billie for protecting her peace. I hope she and her dad are tight and she has him to lean on as well as her husband.
Family is a complicated thing. I’m sure Carrie’s siblings loved her, but- complicated.
And they didn’t have to make press statements. Shutting up is free.
This. They could’ve just supported her and honored Carrie. But they had to make it about themselves. They care more about being “right” than their relationship with her.
SHUTTING UP IS FREE!! 👏
@ Rapunzel, that’s what the issue is. Todd seems to be a leech and his further attacks on Billie shows how little he cares about her feelings. It’s one thing to discuss family matters privately but Todd made it public and that’s on him. Also, Todd and the sisters are the older ones who should be showing decorum and respect to Billie, not the other way around.
Todd seems to have always been problematic.
I too still grieve Carrie. As well as a lot of ’80s and ’90s icons gone way too soon.
Grief is a personal and tricky thing. Families are tricky and messy and I’m sorry Billie got hurt by her uncle and aunts. To be honest, I didn’t even know Carrie had a daughter until she passed. That’s how under the radar she was to me. So I can imagine her relatives’ quick leap to spill all sorts of tea about her mother’s and grandmother’s lives was excruciating for such a relatively private person.
I lost my dad last fall. His sisters made it even worse than it already would have been. As I gave his eulogy, I imagined how good it would feel to speak out openly about what total jerks they had been. (Saying on Facebook that he was dying before the nursing home reached me, announcing his death before I did, stealing from his room as he was dying.) I did not. Instead, like Billie, I chose to keep my mouth shut. But they know what they did, I know what they did, and I suspect my dad knows what they did.
With as hard as it was for me in a small town where my dad wasn’t famous or anything, I can’t imagine how hard it has been for Billie to take such a dignified approach. I hope she had a great time and that the rest (who could’ve just shown up like the public, couldn’t they?) can grow up.
I’m so sorry you had to go through all that on top of losing your father.
I’m so very sorry for your loss.
But, bravo to you for giving the eulogy- it’s difficult to convey your love for him and your loss and even joy for the life you had with him.
You did an incredible thing to honor him.
Family members – it’s complicated, people can be awful. And I’m sorry they made it worse.
I’m so sorry. A death really does bring out the worst in a lot of people, and complicates family dynamics. Sending you peace.
@ Amy, I am so sorry for you loss. It’s such a tragic event, even though we know subconsciously it will happen, it still doesn’t make it easier. But with your Dads siblings to behave in vile, greedy and inappropriate manner just exacerbates your pain and grief.
Amy, I do hope that you are able to find peace and the ability to grieve as well. And may I say, I am immensely proud that you were able to give your father the eulogy that he deserved and you should know that he was probably very, very proud of you!!
Amy, I’m so sorry that you had family members who added to your grief and pain. I hope you are able to concentrate on your wonderful memories of your father and to hell with those awful people who just had to try to look important.
Good for her!
And it’s nice to see Mark is staying fit. I’ve had a crush on him since 1977.
That’s the best I’ve seen Hamill look in years.
Disney got him in shape for Episode 7 and he’s maintained that healthy life style since then–I’m so glad!
If you love someone, death is like unrequited love because you can never speak with or hug that person ever again. Death can also really bring out the worst in some people, because to them it’s not the love but how they can profit. I’m sorry to hear about your father, Amy, and I’m sending you hugs and strength.
That’s a really beautiful way to put it. Thank you for your kind words.
When my mum was ill with dementia her sisters rarely visited and one sister was always posting sh!t of Facebook using my mothers illness to get attention for herself – we clashed several times over this. Her brother was the only sibling who gave a sh!t and visited her regularly even when she was in a care home. At her funeral they were mentioned in the eulogy but I could tell they were miffed that they were not more involved.
I can absolutely empathise with Billie over this – Carrie had a difficult relationship with her father and it seems her siblings were jealous of Carries success which they never had.
Families are complicated even if you are famous.
My mother is currently in LTC with dementia and one of my sisters (R) and myself are the only ones to visit her (45 minute drive one way). My oldest sister, lives 5 minutes away and has excuse after excuse why she can’t visit. The other two are a bit further away but are frequently in the general vicinity. You can be darn sure when Mom dies the other three will be all over Facebook decrying her passing and how much she was loved by them, as if!
Is it really an ‘honor’ if it’s something you pay for? I mean, yes Carrie deserved one in life, but if no one was willing to pony up the cash, then that’s why she never got it. It’s usually movie studios or PR firms who use it as a marketing ploy. Look at all the people who receive one when they have something to promote.
She may not have wanted one in life. She could have seen it as something people receive when their careers were over and she felt she had much more to contribute right up to the end.
I feel for Billy. I’m an only child, and I clashed with family members over their behavior when my mom died. I think it’s tough to be the “youngest” in that circumstance, even (or especially) when you’re a fully grown adult.
@Jenn, I was so happy to see this comment— NOT that your mom passed away, I’m so sorry to hear that. But because I’m also an only child, and right in the middle of similar family bs. So you are not alone! My mother is one of seven, but then there’s just me. And there have been lots of clashes recently because 1) my mother was hospitalized for about six weeks earlier this year and 2) her 75th birthday is coming up. Some of her siblings are great, but some of my aunts…JFC, SO pushy and overbearing, no boundaries or respect for me whatsoever.
So I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately, who’s more “important” (for lack of a better word) when it comes down to it: a sibling or a child? My mother always, always sides with her siblings and it has caused so much angst over the years. Honestly, I can’t even imagine what it will be like when she passes away.
Anyway, I feel the exact same way you do— I’m a grown-ass adult, but I guess my aunts maybe still see me as a child, so it’s always a balancing act. At least we don’t have this playing out publicly like poor Billie. Best of luck navigating future challenges! ❤️
@Hecate, I GASPED when I saw last night that Carrie was only getting her star now, in 2023. Unacceptable!!
Deaths tend to bring things to the surface and some of those things can be ugly. One of those ugly issues is money and that seems to be another concern in this family. In addition to the problems with Billie feeling blindsided with book deals etc there allegedly was a dispute over how the inheritance was divided.
Family members haven’t spoken to this, so hopefully just rumours.
I remember hearing trouble around the inheritance not long after they died. Carrie and Mark were each to receive 50% of Debbie’s estate. Since Carrie died first Mark thought he should now get 100% and nothing for Billie. Billie wanted her mother’s 50% of Debbie’s estate. I don’t remember hearing a resolution. They’re probably still fighting it out in court. Family members really show their true colors when there is a death.
I might be the only one with this opinion, but it would have been no hardship to Billie to allow her mother’s siblings to simply attend. They knew Carrie for their lifetimes and Carrie was not an easy person to deal with, by her own admission.
There’s a grace involved in behaving kindly and Billie didn’t exhibit this. She herself would be a complete unknown if not for her mother.
How do you know it wouldn’t have been a hardship? Are you saying so because you think it wouldn’t bother you if you were in the same circumstances?
If there’s grace involved in behaving kindly, why is the onus not on Todd Fisher to be kind instead of continually attacking his niece through the press? Why is it the woman grieving her mother who has to bear the burden of also being kind to people being deeply unkind to her?
You clearly don’t know what it’s like to have toxic family members
THIS. If I hear one more time that I’ll regret it when they are gone. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Yep. 100%
Nah. They didn’t let a breath get in before cashing in on her death. Billie is under ZERO obligation to invite them. They’d just try to pull focus onto themselves. Their behaviour toward her is a prime example of this.
Allowing toxic people into your space because they’re blood isn’t actually a good or healthy thing to do.
“…it would have been no hardship to Billie to allow her mother’s siblings to simply attend.”
Would it have been a hardship for them to have asked Carrie’s child if she was okay with their monetisation of Carrie’s death?
Would it have been a hardship for them to have apologised, rather than running to TMZ and giving excuses for why they insist it is okay to spread Carrie’s name around for cash?
“They knew Carrie for their lifetimes and Carrie was not an easy person to deal with, by her own admission.”
This is another verse of the “But we’re family. We have a right to abuse you” song. Please stop singing it. Family isn’t an excuse to abuse.
“There’s a grace involved in behaving kindly and Billie didn’t exhibit this.”
There is a grace in refusing to make money selling your relationship with your dead sister, don’t you think? They didn’t exhibit this.
“She herself would be a complete unknown if not for her mother.”
First, how do you know that? She is who she is through no action of her own.
Second, do you know Samantha? You sound so much like her. “Family”, “You’d be nothing without Dad”, “Trying to protect yourself and your privacy is wrong”.
You sound so much alike.
Who’s Samantha? Isn’t it Joely, Tricia, and Todd?
Billie is cashing in on her mother’s memory as much as anyone. Maybe she didn’t want to share the spotlight that day.
It would have been no hardship for any of them to keep their mouths shut in the press. All of them were giving interviews within days of Carrie and Debbie’s passing, talking about Debbie’s last words and what was happening when Carrie was in the hospital.
They denied Billie the peace of the first few days being without her beloved mother and grandmother because they wanted the spotlight for themselves. Todd even gave an interview showing off Carrie and Debbie’s houses, for pete’s sake. If you think any of those people would “simply attend” and not try to draw attention to themselves, you’ve got another think coming lady.
Yeah, I’m with Billie all the way on this one. Their actions hurt her, and this is her MOM we’re talking about. I despise the “but they knew Carrie longer!” argument.
I remember! so gross.
Todd lost his mother too and if you’ve read Carrie’s books, you’d see they were very close and almost “three against the world”. I have no problem with him writing a book about them since both his mom and especially Carries wrote several books that included him
Spoken like someone who has never had family issues, lacks empathy, or actually may be the problem themselves and not realize it.
The ones complaining are the ones who *went to the media* instead of Billie privately. Why is it always on the subject of the abuse to make amends?
I feel like I don’t know enough about these individuals or what happened to have a full take on this.
If Billie says the actions of her mother’s siblings hurt her, I believe her. It had to have been devastating for her to lose her mother so suddenly and at such a young age (followed by her grandmother so soon after). She obviously felt that Todd, Joely and Tricia were not sensitive to her pain and acted inappropriately.
I know that none of Carrie Fisher’s siblings were as successful as she was, but I won’t hold that against them. Few people are. As to the book Todd wrote, I don’t know that I can judge him for that either. Debbie and Carrie were both beloved. While it’s clear he and Carrie were not very close, he still knew them both far better than their many fans did. People wanted to know about them. It’s possible he was approached about a book deal and agreed to do it. It’s also possible that in the immediate aftermath of her death, her half sisters were asked to talk about her and they agreed to do it. I don’t have all the information so I don’t know whether they exploited her death or simply responded to it.
Families are complicated. I’m sorry they are at odds and couldn’t all be there for the unveiling of the star. I don’t fault Billie for their estrangement. I’m just not sure I can really fault Carrie’s siblings either, because I don’t them or all that happened.
AnneL, I agree with your comments. I have read Joely Fisher’s book but not Todd’s. When they provided interviews after Carrie died, they were speaking from their interactions and experiences, not Billie’s. Todd is Carrie’s brother and Joely and Tricia-Leigh are half sisters (I dislike that term but am never sure what the best term to use is). They grew up with Carrie.
Carrie lived her life in the public eye, and wrote books and plays about her experiences, and those included growing up in her family situation. No one faulted Carrie for speaking about her life and her parents and siblings (and she earned income from doing so that has benefited Billie). That’s only natural. We’re all products of our family experiences and environment. No one person should get to control the narrative.
As a family, they have all grown up and in many cases lived their lives in the scrutiny of the media. Their entire family situation was and is complicated (as are many of us, but we don’t all have that media scrutiny). I don’t fault Carrie’s siblings, it just seems to me that Billie may be viewing situations from her perspective and grief and this may not take into account the other members of the families perspectives.
Right. Carrie wrote about her mother and their relationship, and that was OK, but it’s not OK for Todd to write about his mother and sister? Why, because he’s not famous or as successful? Carrie was pretty hard on her mother in “Postcards From The Edge,” but she and Debbie remained close anyway. I feel like there is a double standard happening here.
@ AnneL
Well, the big difference is Todd, his sisters, and their mother was alive when Carrie wrote her book, so they can dispute anything that Carrie had written in the book.
Todd and his sisters waited too after the mother and Carrie died to write a book, so neither one of these deceased people can dispute anything that was written about them, but do you not see the difference? not to mention no one was screaming at the time either.
I agree. It feels spiteful
So I read Todd’s book thinking it would be annoying, but it wasn’t, just mostly about the churn of getting a show on the road and about trying to get the Hollywood museum going with her mother. He didn’t say anything bad about anyone, if I remember correctly, at least not anything people didn’t already know?
I just remembered how great Debbie Reynolds’s memoirs are, I’m going to read them again!
I also read Todd’s book. It was about growing up with Debbie and Carrie, and a lot of their lives was a struggle. Eddie Fisher was absent from their lives (and Joely’s and Tricia’s too) and Debbie and Connie Stevens were constantly working to provide for their children. I also read Joely’s book: it was a bit too much about what a great actress she believes herself to be, but she was very clear that they weren’t raised together, and how she longed for the relationship with Carrie, and how proud she was to be her sister.
I don’t really think the issue is the books and public statements, it’s the behind the scenes ugliness that Billie is reacting to. And that is her choice.
“I didn’t capitalize on the deaths of my sister and mother” said the man who wrote a book about his sister and mother because most people have not heard of him.
Ugh.
Secondly, the siblings publicly whining about this is all I need to know. Billie kept things quiet but the siblings had to go open a can of abusive worms because they weren’t allowed to center themselves at a celebration for Carrie. Trash, every one of them.
Lastly, some of y’all have clearly never had abusive relatives and it shows. While I’m truly happy for you maybe this would be a good time for you to remain silent instead of inadvertently encouraging abusive behavior. Just because someone is biologically related doesn’t make them family. Billie is not obligated to factor in the siblings in her decision making.
I had a pretty toxic older sibling whose issues negatively impacted the whole family. I have seen bad family dynamics in my husband’s family, where his mother and her youngest sister stopped speaking entirely and never reconciled. I have first-hand experience of things like this. But I don’t have first-hand experience with this particular family.
All I said was that I don’t know these people, nor do I know exactly what happened behind the scenes. So I am not going to rush to say that all of Carrie’s siblings are toxic, abusive, exploitative and horrible. Does that mean Billie didn’t feel valid and genuine hurt at their actions? No. I said that I sympathize with and believe her. But these things can be complicated.
I think it’s a stretch to suggest that by simply saying I won’t rush to judgment on Todd et al, I am encouraging familial abuse. Abuse is a pretty strong word to use in this situation. Yes, it sounds like they were insensitive. It sounds like Todd made money on a book he wrote about his mother and sister. But Carrie made money talking about her mother, and I don’t see anyone calling her an abuser for it.
By your own admission, you don’t know the inner dynamics of this family. All any of us really know from this article is that Billie has been hurt by her aunt and uncle, has expressed as much to them, and feels unheard. Why is it so hard to just validate her feelings? Validating how she feels is not somehow an indictment of her family members.
At the end of the day has a right to her feelings and she doesn’t need a bunch of strangers playing devil’s advocate about a personal matter that her aunt and uncle insisted on making public.
Again, I agree with AnneL. We are trying to look at the situation from both Billie (Carrie’s daughter) and Todd, Joely and Tricia-Leigh’s (brother and half-sisters) perspectives. AnneL is not condoning abuse nor am I. I am suggesting that Billie’s hurt feelings are her right but that doesn’t mean that Carrie’s siblings were abusive. I believe that it’s important to look carefully at situations and I think AnneL was providing her view. Making statements that suggest she is condoning abuse or I, can also be viewed as attacking and gaslighting. I’m not saying that’s the intent, but our words matter and we all should be allowed respectful differing viewpoints.
I find that most commenters here try to take a measured response and often add additional knowledge or interpretations to a situation. Suggesting that commenters should remain silent because they have a different view or not talking about is seems counter productive when this site is for articles and comments. This article drew attention to the Fisher family’s situation and there’s nothing wrong with that.
You are literally telling a person who has come out and said why she did what she did that she needs to get over it.
She wasn’t going to tell anyone about this until her uncle and her aunts went and trashed her ahead of time and flipped out about being “excluded.” Which tells you what’s probably been going on behind the scenes since her mom and grandmother died. And also, why TF are two of these people (who are not related to Debbie Fisher) even involved in talking about her last words? Good grief.
+1,000,000 ChillinginDC
I validated her feelings in my initial post. I said I believe she felt hurt, and her feelings are valid (I think I literally wrote that). She is entitled to feel how she feels. I certainly didn’t say she “needed to get over it.”
But I also said I don’t know these people or exactly what happened, so I am not going to rush to judgment on all three of Carrie Fisher’s siblings. People on here are calling them “toxic” and “abusers” and that strikes me as pretty extreme. Being insensitive is not the same as being abusive. That’s a very serious accusation to level at someone based on one situation that we are hearing from different perspectives.
And I pointed out that Todd Fisher has as much right to write and talk about his relatives and childhood as Carrie ever did. Just because she was more famous and successful in show business doesn’t give her full claim to that family narrative.
As to the fact that Carrie had died when they wrote their books? What of it? People who have read the book say he was loving and respectful. It’s not like he waited until she died and then trashed her.
I don’t identify with anyone here. I am trying to be fair and withheld judgment, while allowing that Billie feels what she feels and that’s totally valid.
I don’t know how old this site leans but Carrie fisher is the ultimate “my story” person. To meet her is to be included in her story. She is older than tod and has spoke on his behalf his whole life. Carrie fisher spoke on her father so much he said ” she acts like I cheated on her”. This family tells their story. This family writes books. Carrie would approve of the book. At least Todd book. Carrie whole life is documented. From her birth to her death.
If Carrie didn’t included Todd in everything, I would be team Billie but she should rethink leaving her uncle out.
I think this is a key point. Carrie shared her family’s story. She wrote “Postcards From The Edge” which basically depicted her relationship with her mother. She talked about her childhood and her family members openly. I don’t see why it’s not OK for her to do this but not OK for her siblings to write about her? Especially when Todd at least apparently wrote fond, loving, respectful things about her in his book.
I’m not saying I’m “Team Todd” or anything or don’t think Billie must have valid issues with her uncle and aunts. I just am not going to rush to say the siblings were all just out to exploit their sister for cash. I certainly can’t call them “abusive” based on the little I know about the situation.
And I say all this as someone who LOVES Carrie Fisher.
You’re doing a helluva lot of work on Todd’s behalf for someone who claims to not be “Team Todd”.
I just said above too that Todd’s book was actually normal and nice. But I understand there can be all kinds of issues within a family.
I agree. Carrie can capitalize on her family but not Todd? Especially if there weren’t mean things. Billie capitalized on Carrie too, even if it her mom… she has and will continue to.
AnneL is doing a lot of work here to pretty much say that since Carrie Fisher (WHO IS DEAD) said stuff while alive, her siblings get to do whatever and her daughter needs to deal. She’s cut them off. She’s allowed to. This is what is going on right now. A woman said no to toxic relatives who are demanding that she bend to them and went to social media so people could berate her. Which I saw with my own dang eyes.
She doesn’t have to rethink anything. Because this isn’t about Todd’s relationship with Carrie when she was alive. It is about his actions AFTER she died. We do not owe family members relationships and contact when they have hurt us.
I agree and if Billie doesn’t want to see her mother’s siblings, that is her call. I never said that I thought she was in the wrong or that her feelings were not valid. I only said that I am not going to judge Todd et al for writing or talking about their sister, especially since she herself wrote about her family (including her famous mother) and made money off of it. I didn’t think it was wrong when she did it and I don’t think it’s wrong in this case, either. Unless they trash her, which apparently they didn’t.
The only post death actions that we know of are books written. Todd’s book received good reviews and was not exploitative. I did not read her sister’s book, but it sounds like the book was about the whole family. They all had the same very famous, philiandering addict father and different bombshell moms.
Good for her for setting boundaries for herself and her children. And their inability to just shut up shows that she was right. I can’t imagine the pain she was going through during that time (and still is) and to have them betray not only her but her mother and grandmother in those moments is not something that can be easily forgiven. As someone who has her own set of toxic family members on BOTH sides I understand her decision.
I read Todd’s book and found him to be an annoying and preachy nepo baby, but his portrait of his mother and sister was respectful and loving. That said, I have no idea what went on behind the scenes and Billie can feel however she wants about her mom’ siblings.
To me, it’s pretty obvious that Todd, Joely, and Trisha were toxic family members who Billie was right to exclude. If you haven’t, please familiarize yourself with a concept called “Missing MIssing Reasons.” https://www.issendai.com/psychology/estrangement/missing-missing-reasons.html
The initial statements from the siblings sound very much like the examples in that article. They know why Billie has no relationship with them. They know why they were not invited. (Hell, Todd even admits it in his rebuttal.) But they want to act like it’s all a big mystery why big, meanie Billie would not put them front and center at this ceremony. Narcissists want to act like everything is about them and that’s what they are doing here.
And, of course, they can’t get their story straight. Look at Todd’s rebuttal statement. In one sentence, he denies capitalizing on Carrie and Debbie’s deaths and literally the next sentence talks about the book he wrote. FOR PROFIT!
We don’t know what Carrie and Debbie’s relationship was like with them when they were alive (although we do know that Todd worked for Debbie’s LV museum.) But one person does, and that’s Billie. So those folks who are trying to second guess and shame her for what she’s doing to protect herself and her children really need to take a step back and understand that not all blood is family.
Right?! I am like sir you just told on yourselves. And ten bucks they were all bothering her for pictures, letters, and things to put in their book. Ghouls. All of them.
Whatever went down before, the fact that her brother and half sisters went to the press to whine and complain about this shows how horrible they are-so Team Billie.
although Joely has a more visible career than Todd or Tricia, she seems to take any chance to talk to anyone about Carrie. just the language in her statements tells me she is toxic. noting Eddie was an absentee father to all his kids, it does seem like Joely overstates their relationship.
This is a star on a sidewalk. Paid for by Star Wars. The family members can visit the star on the sidewalk now ffs, instead of trying to make this ceremony about them. Calling this out is petty and antagonistic, let it be.
The people defending the half siblings here are making me shake my head.
Billie had to come out after the fact cause these people went to TMZ and other new sites to trash her. She was trying to keep this from coming out. She cut them off after her mother and grandmother’s death for the crap they did and apparently keep on doing.
Anyone is allowed to cut off a toxic family member. And Todd’s response to her instagram shows she was right to do it.
Stuff his differently when you’re grieving. Todd’s book may not be bad in and of itself. (I haven’t read it.) But it came while Billie was still in deep shock and grief. Something she may have ignored or, conversely, enjoyed if Carrie had been alive crystallized into something painful.
This is a bunch of insanely wealthy people fighting over who gets even MORE money. From what was reported when Debbie Reynolds died, she split her assets among three people: Carrie, Todd, and Billie. After Carrie and Debbie died, Billie claimed she should get both her own portion and Carrie’s portion because Carrie would have wanted it to go to her. Todd claimed he should get both his own portion and Carrie’s portion (or half of Carrie’s portion, I can’t remember), because Carrie died before Debbie, and thus that portion never passed to Carrie to, in turn, pass to Billie. I don’t care who ends up with what percentage of Debbie’s fortune (which was much larger than Carrie’s assets which went solely to Billie). That would be entirely up to the court as to whether the will said per stirpes or per capita. I only post this because I think all these “insulted Carrie’s memory” and “I should have been invited” isn’t new, it’s a result of the legal fights they brought against each other going back years over Debbie’s fortune.