The posthumous ceremony awarding the late Carrie Fisher with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame took place without her siblings. This may have seemed like a surprise, but it was the decision of her daughter, Billie Lourd, to exclude them.
In what's turned into a very public affair, all members published statements expressing their opinions on the matter.
The family suffered back-to-back tragedies in 2016
In December 2016, the Fisher family suffered two tragedies. On the 27th, Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher died in Los Angeles at the age of 60. Her death was deemed a direct result of severe sleep apnea, although it was determined she had atherosclerosis as well.
The following day, Fisher's mother, the legendary Debbie Reynolds, who starred in Singin' in the Rain (1952), died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Many have said Reynolds died of a broken heart, but official reports say she suffered a stroke.
Members of the family all processed the loss of these two women differently. Lourd mourned her mother and grandmother in a relatively private manner, posting tributes to them on social media. Fisher's siblings - Joely, Todd, and Tricia - chose to mourn more publicly.
Joely and Todd both wrote memoirs discussing their lives with Fisher and Reynolds. Joely's, titled Growing Up Fisher: Musings, Memories, and Misadventures, was released in 2017. Todd's, My Girls: A Lifetime with Carrie and Debbie, was published the following year.
Excluded from Carrie Fisher's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony
On May 4, 2023 - Star Wars Day - Fisher was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, prior to the event, controversy arose after a statement provided by Todd to TMZ revealed that Fisher's brother and sisters weren't invited.
"It's heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister," he explained. Joely and Tricia confirmed this by posting their own joint statement to Instagram, explaining how they, too, weren't invited.
"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," the post reads.
Billie Lourd explained her decision
In a rare statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Lourd may have been trying to squash the drama by offering an explanation for her decision. She opened by apologizing to "anyone reading this for feeling the need to defend myself publicly," and said that the only reason she made the statement was because her mother's brother and sisters "publicly attacked" her.
She confirmed she didn't invite them to the ceremony, stating that "they know why" and offering an explanation.
"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," she said.
"I found out they had done this through the press. They never consulted me or considered how this would affect our relationship. 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."
She continued, "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."
She concluded by saying the ceremony was about Carrie Fisher and nothing else, ending with the iconic, "May the 4th be with you."
Todd Fisher responded to Billie Lourd's statement
Following Lourd's statement, Todd offered a response: "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."
In regard to his memoir, he defended it by saying, "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."
Despite this follow-up statement, Fisher's siblings remained without an invite to the ceremony.