Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Mark Hamill opened up for the first time about the loss of his on-screen twin and decades-long friend Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds.
“I felt like I didn’t want to do this, that it was too soon to talk about Carrie, and then came the double-whammy of Debbie Reynolds going as well. It’s just unimaginable. I’m sure there is a long list of people who knew Carrie better than I did, but that said, our relationship was unique. It was special. We were in the garage band that hit it big and had all these hit albums. Then we split up and went on our merry way.
“I’m still trying to process this. I can’t think of her in the past tense. I think of her in the present tense, in the future tense. It is still so raw. I feel so devastated; I can’t imagine what Carrie’s daughter Billie or her brother Todd or anybody who is that close to them is going through. I think that if I talk about her, maybe fans will not give in to despair, but I feel like a real hypocrite because I’m not okay with it at all. I’m angry and so sad. In a way, if we can all work through it together, we’ll all be better off.
“They were both really mothering types, both opinionated and determined. Carrie’s mom was like everybody’s mom. If you were in her house, Debbie was your mother. She gave you advice, and fixed your collar, and said, ‘Why did you wear a brown belt with black shoes?’
“In many ways, Debbie was the optimist. She has a spring in her step and is really upbeat and has all the qualities you associate with her, and Carrie would be shuffling around in a bathrobe and slippers muttering under her breath. So cynical! It was a real Felix-and-Oscar disparity between their personalities, and yet in many, many ways they were alike. She was fiercely protective of her mother and her mother’s legacy.”
To read more of Mark’s thoughts at this awful time make plans to buy next weeks print edition of the magazine.
