Fan, friends and family honored the legacies of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds at an emotional public memorial on Saturday.
The beloved actresses were remembered at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles at a celebration organized by Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher, three months after the film icons died tragically within a day of each other. The public memorial was also streamed live on Reynolds’ website.
During the memorial, Todd spoke to the audience, revealing Reynolds’ heartbreak after Fisher died last year.
“When Carrie died, my mother decided to change her plans a bit. My mother always said to me, ‘I never want to go to my daughter’s funeral service. I would like to be buried with Carrie.’ I didn’t know she was going to leave us that very next day and when she looked at me to ask permission to leave, she said she wanted to be with Carrie, and she closed her eyes and went to sleep. It was a beautiful exit.”
The memorial included an original tribute song written by James Blunt. The British musician, who was extremely close to Carrie, did not attend the memorial but the new song played over a video montage.
Earlier on Saturday, Carrie’s half-sister Joely Fisher shared a tribute to the two actresses on Twitter.
Today send them off with the light..this is gonna be a tuff 1..@carrieffisher @DebbieReynolds1 in our ❤❤s & souls 4ever This is how I see it pic.twitter.com/Vp2aE6T7BA
— Joely Fisher (@MsJoelyFisher) March 25, 2017
Todd, who organized the memorial with his wife, Catherine, previously said he decided to invite the public in keeping with his mother’s wishes.
“The public is invited because that’s how my mother would want it,” Fisher told attendees earlier this month at a screening of Bright Lights — the HBO documentary about his mother and sister — at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in California, according to Variety. “She was very connected to her fans and felt they were a part of her, so we’re opening it to the public.”
The actresses were laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles on Jan. 6. Reynolds was buried with some of Fisher’s ashes. Forest Lawn — Hollywood Hills is also the final resting place of a number of other notable stars, and Todd Fisher told 20/20 after his mother and sister’s deaths that they will be buried “among friends.”
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Carrie Fisher was aboard a flight from London to Los Angeles on Dec. 23 when she went into cardiac arrest. She died four days later at UCLA Medical Center at the age of 60. Her cause of death was listed as “cardiac arrest/deferred,” according to her death certificate.
Reynolds died a day later, on Dec. 28, at the age of 84. She suffered a stroke at her and Fisher’s property. The Singin’ in the Rain star died from a blood vessel that ruptured and caused bleeding in her brain. Her official cause of death was an intracerebral hemorrhage.