Carrie Fisher–one of the funniest, nicest people ever–gets a bunch of showings on HBO starting on Thursday of her brilliant one woman show, “Wishful Drinking.” Check the hbo.com website for times.
At the recent premiere of “Wishful Drinking,” Leah Sydney caught up with Carrie. It wasn’t easy. The guests included mom Debbie Reynolds, and pals Jane Fonda and Richard Perry, and Beverly D’Angelo, as well as her extended family: one time step mom Connie Stevens and her kids by Carrie’s dad, Joely Fisher and Tricia Lee Fisher. Many people might not know this, but it was Carrie who fixed up Perry and Fonda in the summer of 2009. They’ve been going strong since.
The once and future Princess Leia has published many books including “Postcards from the Edge” (also a hilarious movie), and “Surrender the Pink.” Her next one, she says, is called “Shockaholic.” It’s about getting shock treatments. Seriously.
“Wishful Drinking” is a lot about Carrie’s relationship to her famous parents, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. Sadly, Eddie died just before the HBO movie started its run. Carrie says she and her dad had had a very good relationship for the last four years.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with him, but not a familial kind of relationship in a way. It was when I stopped expecting him to act like a regular Dad and I took care of him. So you have to figure out what relationship to have with who. That was the way to be with my Dad. Dad was a very childlike man. So I took care of him. And I loved how he loved me. He was very dear at the end. I liked being needed by him. I do miss my father. He was excited about this and he would have liked to see this.”
Carrie says that her Dad “never had the skill set to survive that my Mom has. My mother knew how to make use of whatever was there. Eddie did not know how to do it.” She remains very tight with Debbie.
“We couldn’t live next door to each other if we weren’t close-you can’t fake that. My mom is amazing. She’s 78. She’s a powerful, powerful being. In a way that my father never was. Life mowed him over more.”
