Sister of Carrie Fisher and son of Debbie Reynolds, 60-year-old Todd Fisher speaks of the impossible sadness of losing both “his girls” within a day of each other, and the decision his niece Billie had to make to turn off her mum’s life support.
On September 26, 1955, 23-year-old movie star Debbie Reynolds married 27-year-old teen-idol crooner Eddie Fisher. The couple instantly became America’s Sweethearts, mobbed by the press and hordes of screaming, swooning, adoring fans wherever they went. The birth of their daughter, Carrie Frances Fisher, on October 21, 1956, made headlines around the world.
In the late spring of 1957, Eddie gave a concert at the Palladium in London. It speaks volumes about the state of their marriage by then that Debbie brought along her best friend from childhood, Jeanette Johnson, so she’d have someone to talk to. From London, Eddie, Debbie and Jeanette headed on to Europe to meet producer Mike Todd and his impossibly gorgeous movie-star bride Elizabeth Taylor. Mike was Eddie’s closest friend. Eddie was Mike’s best man at their wedding. Debbie was Elizabeth’s matron of honour.
Nine months later, Debbie Reynolds gave birth to me. They named me Todd Emmanuel – Todd for Mike Todd.
On March 22, 1958, when I wasn’t quite four weeks old, Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash in New Mexico. About a month later, my father left my mother for his best friend’s widow, Elizabeth Taylor. Debbie was devastated. It was one of Hollywood’s biggest, most notorious scandals. Carrie and I were too young to remember the insane tabloid feeding frenzy. But I do have one flash of a visual and emotional memory in the aftermath of our parents’ break-up. Carrie, age four, was standing on the couch, staring out the window at the street, watching for our father, who was supposed to pick us up for a visitation. He never came.
My mom was funny and playful and smart and beautiful.
Denne historien er fra September 2018-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 2018-utgaven av Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.