Who knew that Sean Lennon and his mom Yoko Ono were such close friends of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds? It doesn’t seem like an organic fit, but you never know in this world what bonds people. According to Sean’s Instagram and Twitter posts, the four spent a lot of time together, even watching one of the Presidential debates together. (Debbie was “passionately against Trump.”)

Sean also turns out to be profound on the subject of grief, and that does make sense since he and Yoko (and Julian Lennon) suffered an unspeakable loss in 1980. The younger Lennon wrote on Instagram today:

I’m absolutely speechless with the news of Debbie passing just a day after her daughter. I knew how close they were, and because of Carrie I have so many wonderful memories of Debbie in her house next to Carrie’s. They were so absolutely close it seems clear that Debbie wanted to be with her daughter. Carrie and Debbie’s relationship was a template for mine and my mother’s. I’m so stunned.

Before Reynolds died, Sean also posted:

And to Carrie, I hope you and David and George Martin and Prince and Leonard and the others lost this year are having the best party ever, and I hope my dad greeted you at the door. Love, Sean

More from Sean’s earlier, eloquent post:

Now we must double our efforts to send love to Billie, and to Todd. I don’t know what to say right now, I’m truly in shock. I’m just…this is too much. Debbie was indeed a timeless legend and so much of Carrie’s effortless grace on screen came from Debbie’s mentoring. Debbie taught me many things. I literally have no energy left in my body I feel completely drained of all blood, I feel utterly deflated. I can’t imagine how Billie feels please concentrate your energies on helping her through this tornado of tragedies. I can’t imagine losing two such pillars in such a short time. I love you Billie. And I love you Carrie and Debbie always. Thank you for what was an endless fountain of kindness and generosity from both of you. (Debbie we had just watched one of the debates w Carrie at your house and I’ll never forget you telling Carrie and I to shut up because you were so passionately against Trump and wanted to hear the television but Carrie and I were joking around a bit loudly. I miss you so much!)

Earlier, Sean had written: I was talking to a friend about grief just now and I think I’d like to share an excerpt: ‘I’ll tell you this much, it never goes away, and the mistake we sometimes make is expecting it to. Once we stop hoping for it to go away, once we accept that it is a permanent edifice in our lives, then the sharpness of its edge becomes more and more tolerable each day. We also come to be thankful for the strength and wisdom gained in having to scale that edifice for the rest of our lives. Not one day passes that I don’t miss my father since he died. The people we lose live on in us, and much of that vicarious immortality hurts to bear. But therein lays the paradox of existence: what hurts us the most also gives us the most strength, beauty, and understanding. Those of us who have never lost are living in a half dream state. To know suffering is to know truth, for reality comes at a price. In the end the balance works out because we all pay the ultimate price for living, eventually. So whatever wisdom gained during our brief flicker of awareness–that spark of consciousness we call a lifetime–is a gift and a privilege. That’s how I try to see it anyway. xo, Sean’

Photo of Carrie Fisher by Sean Ono Lennon via Instagram

In what is maybe the most extraordinary Hollywood ending ever Debbie Reynolds has died one day after her famous daughter Carrie Fisher. Todd Fisher said his mother wanted to be with his sister. They leave behind Carrie’s daughter Billie to deal with cruel tragedy. Unbelievable.

What is going on here? How did this happen? All I know is that for several days, a posting on Debbie Reynolds’ Twitter that Carrie was “Stable” was taken seriously and literally by news organizations. In reality, Reynolds has not been seen in almost two years publicly.

In January 2015 she appeared at the SAG Awards to pick up her Lifetime Achievement honor. In her acceptance speech, Reynolds repeated herself and contradicted herself, and got lost. Clearly, something was wrong with our Debbie.

By November 2015 she was unable to accept her Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award. She sent granddaughter Billie to the Governors Awards to make a speech. Carrie was there, of course. That was a little over a year ago. Debbie Reynolds had not been seen in that time.

So we don’t exactly how frail Debbie Reynolds really was when she had to be told her daughter had died. It was obviously too much for her. And she obviously had not been Tweeting anything at all. News organizations just picked up the story and ran with it.

Watching Oprah’s 2011 interview with mother and daughter, it’s also pretty clear that they tied to each other in deep ways. And now, in what seems like a snap of fingers, they are gone. It’s surreal.

When Carrie was touring her one woman show “Wishful Drinking,” she made a stop in Hartford, where my own mother — a theatre critic– spotted Debbie in the audience. No fuss was made over her. She was just there, my mom says. My mom approached her and asked Debbie why she was there in Hartford, Connecticut. It wasn’t like this was a Broadway opening.

My mom says Debbie responded, “Where else would I be? It’s my daughter.”

Says it all, I think.