Billie Lourd hits back at Carrie Fisher’s siblings after ‘snub’

The star’s daughter Billie Lourd, 30, has responded to Carrie Fisher’s siblings after they accused her of excluding them from her late mother’s Walk of Fame ceremony, which will take place later today.

The actress explained the reason she did not invite Carrie’s brother, Todd, or her two half-sisters, Joely and Tricia Leigh, as she claimed she was “publicly attacked by them” over the statements they released.

Lourd began her statement by apologising to “anyone reading this for feeling the need to defend myself publicly” as she revealed her relatives “know why” they have been snubbed.

She went on to accuse her late mother’s siblings of “capitalising on her death” by charging for interviews and releasing books, while she chose to deal with her grief in “a much different way”.

Lourd said: “Days after my mom died, her brother and her sister chose to process their grief publicly and capitalise on my mother’s death, by doing multiple interviews and selling individual books for a lot of money, with my mom and my grandmother’s deaths as the subject.

“I found out they had done this through the press. They never consulted me or considered how this would affect our relationship,” Lourd said in a statement received by The Hollywood Reporter.

The American Horror Story star continued: “Though I recognise they have every right to do whatever they choose, their actions were very hurtful to me at the most difficult time in my life. I chose to and still choose to deal with her loss in a much different way.”

Fisher’s brother, Todd, told TMZ he didn’t make the cut of the 30-seat guest list, with the family being in charge of who can and can’t attend.

He told the site: “Frankly, it’s a distressing situation and I don’t deserve to be put in this position. As the only brother of Carrie Fisher, being omitted from this special day is truly hurtful.”

He insisted Fisher would have wanted him at the event, in the same way he was present with her during other notable honours for their mother, Singin’ In The Rain’s Debbie Reynolds.

Similarly, Fisher’s half-sister Joely spoke out on the upcoming ceremony in an Instagram post shared yesterday, in which she claimed she and her siblings were “deliberately excluded”.

She wrote: “For some bizarre, misguided reason our niece has chosen not to include us in this epic moment in our sister’s career. This is something Carrie would have definitely wanted her siblings to be present for.

“The fact that her only brother and two sisters were intentionally and deliberately excluded is deeply shocking.

“We have all been grieving the loss of our favorite human for some years now…we have given Billie the space to do that in her own way. We have been nothing but loving and open, consistently.”

Joely continued saying they were not looking for a “photo op” and instead they aimed to be “celebrating the permanency of Carrie’s legacy in this industry”.