Actress Debbie Reynolds, recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, poses in the press room during the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 25, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty)
Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds died one day apart, and now they will be memorialized together, a fitting tribute to the pair so close that Reynolds literally could not live on without her only daughter.
Reynolds, 84, was rushed to the hospital on the afternoon of December 28, said TMZ. The entertainment site then reported that she had died a few hours later. Reynolds was taken to the hospital after she reportedly had trouble breathing, said NBC.
She told her son, Todd, that she “missed Carrie” and wanted to see her again. Fisher died the day before of cardiac arrest at age 60.
In an interview with The Express in 2015, Debbie Reynolds admitted that her true love was her children, rather than her husbands. (Getty)
This all brings up the heartbreaking question: Will Fisher and Reynolds have a joint funeral? Will they be buried together?
Carrie’s brother and Debbie’s son, Todd Fisher, now says the family is hoping to have a joint memorial service for the mother and daughter. He told the New York Daily News on December 29 that he was still trying to figure out the venue but added, “It’s what we want to do, but we’re still working on the mechanics.” The news site said Todd referred to the relationship between his mother and sister as “a beautiful love story.”
It’s now official: There will be both a private funeral and a public memorial service for both women. Meryl Streep and Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, are expected to give eulogies at the public memorial, according to TMZ. Mother and daughter will be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in Burbank, California at each other’s side, and the services will be joint. Costumes from both women’s movies may also be on display, TMZ reported.
When Debbie died, Carrie’s funeral was still in the planning stages. Carrie Fisher, 60, died after suffering a massive heart attack on an airplane. According to TMZ, Debbie Reynolds Todd were literally planning Carrie’s funeral when Debbie was stricken. USA Today reported before Reynolds died that Fisher’s funeral arrangements were still pending. Tributes were already piling up from fans and celebrities, but nothing had been publicly announced. Carrie was Debbie’s daughter with Hollywood star Eddie Fisher, who is deceased.
Debbie Reynolds’ first husband was Eddie Fisher, whom she married at the age of 23. They were married from 1955 to 1959 and had Debbie’s only two children: Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. They were divorced after Eddie had an affair with Elizabeth Taylor. The affair happened shortly after Elizabeth’s husband, Mike Todd, died in a plane crash. Debbie and Eddie had named their son, Todd Fisher, after Mike. (Getty)
The women were so close that they lived next door to each other over the years, and, on Twitter, people are saying that Debbie may have died of a broken heart.
At the same time, both women were powerhouses in their own rights, deserving of their own tributes for careers that spanned decades and created legends.
Carrie Fisher was obviously best known for her iconic turn in Star Wars as Princess Leia, and Debbie Reynolds was known for her starring role in the Hollywood musical, Singin’ in the Rain. According to NBC, she starred in that musical with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, “in 1952 when she was 19 years old. She made her film debut in 1950 in the musical ‘The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady.'”
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Debbie Reynolds Dead: Will Debbie & Carrie Fisher Have Joint Funeral?