Todd Fisher 'takes issue' with Billie Lourd accusing the late Carrie Fisher's siblings of capitalising on her death
Billie Lourd made a rare public statement to explain why she chose not to invite Carrie Fisher's siblings to her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
Todd Fisher has rubbished Billie Lourd's claim that the late Carrie Fisher's siblings capitalised on her death.
The late 'Star Wars' legend - who died in December 2016 aged 60 - will be honoured with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 4, Star Wars Day, and her daughter hit back after Todd expressed his dismay at not being given one of 30 guestlist spots at the induction.
Billie, 30, said that Todd, 65, Joely, 55, and Tricia Leigh Fisher, 54, are excluded from attending, and “they know why".
In a statement issued to The Hollywood Reporter, she said: “Days after my mom died, her brother and her sister chose to process their grief publicly and capitalise 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.
“Though I recognise 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.”
And now, Todd has responded to Billie's statement and insisted his memoir and interview he gave didn't make a buck out of his sister's passing.
He told 'Entertainment Tonight': "I take issue with what she said on every level.
"There was no money made on anything."
On why he spoke to press, he continued: "I did one '20/20' interview, and I didn't charge for that.
"I only did that because the pundits were making a big deal out of the fact that my mother died of a broken heart. And it was really annoying me because I didn't agree with that analysis.
"Then, months and months later, I wrote my personal memoir, called 'My Girls', which is a book about my sister and my mother and our life together over sixty years.
"That book, it's an homage to them. And it's not about their death, it's about their life. There's less than one chapter about death."
Billie heartbreakingly lost her mother and grandmother, Debbie Reynolds, just a day apart.
Todd published his memoir 'My Girls: A Lifetime with Carrie and Debbie' in 2018. And Joely released 'Growing Up Fisher: Musings, Memories and Misadventures' in 2017.
Carrie's director brother was left reeling and said he found it "distressing" after he was "intentionally omitted" from the guestlist.
He told TMZ: "Frankly, it's a distressing situation and I don't deserve to be put in this position.
"As the only brother of Carrie Fisher, being omitted from this special day is truly hurtful.
"I was always a big part of everything my sister and mother did historically over their lifetimes."
He added: "It's heartbreaking and shocking to me that I was intentionally omitted from attending this important legacy event for my sister, Carrie."
Todd insisted he was extremely close to Carrie and Debbie but in his tell-all memoir, 'My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie And Debbie', he confessed that his sister was "angry" with him during their last conversation.
He wrote that "there was always different tension between the family of mom, particularly myself, and Carrie, as it related to her drug use at the time."
An autopsy found that Carrie had traces of cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy in her system at the time of her death.
Todd shared: "But when Carrie and I got face-to-face, there was no way to have any of that. It just melted away, because the blood, the relationship between brother and sister, the bond, is so deep.
He went on to claim that despite their differences, Carrie told him: "We have to be OK with each other. It's the foundation."
