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Billie Lourd writes about her evolving relationship with Princess Leia. (Photo: Chris Delmas / AFP /Getty Images)
Carrie Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, pays tribute to her late mom and the iconic Star Wars character she played, Princess Leia, in a new essay for Time.” data-reactid=”31″ type=”text”>Carrie Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, pays tribute to her late mom and the iconic Star Wars character she played, Princess Leia, in a new essay for Time.
“I grew up with three parents: a mom, a dad [Bryan Lourd] and Princess Leia,” Lourd, 27, wrote. “I guess Princess Leia was kind of like my stepmom – technically family, but deep down I didn’t really like her. She literally and metaphorically lived on a planet I had never been to. When Leia was around, there wasn’t as much room for my mom – for Carrie. As a child, I couldn’t understand why people loved Leia as much as they did. I didn’t want to watch her movie, I didn’t want to dress up like her, I didn’t even want to talk about her. I just wanted my mom – the one who lived on Earth, not Tatooine.”
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“My mom? The lady who wore glitter makeup like it was lotion and didn’t wear a bra to support her much-support-needed DD/F’s?” Lourd wondered. “They couldn’t be talking about her! I had to investigate who this person was they were talking about.” So she watched the film and quickly “realized no one is, or ever will be, as hot or as cool as Princess F***ing Leia.”
Lourd wrote about attending Comic-Com with her mom and seeing first hand what Fisher and Leia mean to people.
“People of all ages from all over the world were dressed up like my mom, the lady who sang me to sleep at night and held me when I was scared,” Lourd wrote. “Watching the amount of joy it brought to people when she hugged them or threw glitter in their faces was incredible to witness. People waited in line for hours just to meet her. People had tattoos of her. People named their children after her. People had stories of how Leia saved their lives. It was a side of my mom I had never seen before. And it was magical.”
She wrote that “Leia is more than just a character. She’s a feeling. She is strength. She is grace. She is wit. She is femininity at its finest.” She also said that “no one could have played her like my mother.”
Lourd talked about bonding with Fisher in a different way on the set. In hair and makeup, she was given mini–Leia buns and her mom “stood in the mirror behind me and smiled like we had gotten matching tattoos. Our secret-handshake hairstyle.” She said Fisher was “protective” of her on the set, constantly checking on her. As they drove home that night, Fisher told her, for the first time, that Lourd should consider acting professionally.
already looking ahead to the next movie in the trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, out Dec. 20, which “was going to be Leia’s movie. Her movie” in which “the princess became the general.” However, life intervened.” data-reactid=”64″ type=”text”>Lourd recalled one of their last conversations was about Fisher was already looking ahead to the next movie in the trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, out Dec. 20, which “was going to be Leia’s movie. Her movie” in which “the princess became the general.” However, life intervened.
The Rise of Skywalker, which she says left her “speechless.” Lourd also agreed to reprise her role, which she said was “one of the most painful, difficult things I would ever do, but I said yes for her–for my mom. For Leia. For everyone Leia means so much to.”” data-reactid=”66″ type=”text”>And as the keeper of Leia, she was touched when Abrams called to say that they had enough footage of Fisher to complete Leia’s story in The Rise of Skywalker, which she says left her “speechless.” Lourd also agreed to reprise her role, which she said was “one of the most painful, difficult things I would ever do, but I said yes for her–for my mom. For Leia. For everyone Leia means so much to.”
Lourd said she can’t wait to have one more film to one day show her kids of “Mommy and Grandma” together. And ended by writing, “I grew up with three parents: a mom, a dad and Princess Leia. Initially, Princess Leia was kind of like my stepmom. Now she’s my guardian angel. And I’m her keeper.”
talked to Yahoo Entertainment about the upcoming film and how they used “eight minutes of footage” of his sister for the new film.” data-reactid=”68″ type=”text”>Lourd’s uncle and Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, talked to Yahoo Entertainment about the upcoming film and how they used “eight minutes of footage” of his sister for the new film.
“They grabbed every frame and analyzed it,” Todd said, “and then reverse-engineered it and [got] it into the story the right way. It’s kind of magical.”
Todd also revealed how the story was supposed to play out prior to his sister’s death, explaining, “She was going to be the last Jedi.”
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:” data-reactid=”77″ type=”text”>Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
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