E-mail a friendCarrie Fisher
original airdate May 7, 2004
Carrie Fisher has come a long way since her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars. Although she's continued acting, she's also become one of the highest paid writers in Hollywood. A much sought-after "script doctor," her credits include Sister Act, Lethal Weapon 3 and the '97 Academy Awards show. She's also written several novels, including the semi-autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, which was made into a successful film, and her latest, the 'semi-official sequel,' The Best Awful There Is.
Carrie Fisher
Tavis: I am delighted--did I say delighted?--to kick off this Mother's Day weekend with a return visit from one of our favorite guests, the brilliant writer and 'Star Wars' legend Carrie Fisher, a successful mother in her own right. Her most recent book 'The Best Awful' has received rave reviews. It's the long-awaited follow-up to her best-seller 'Postcards From the Edge,' but you know that. You also know it probably wouldn't be a good Mother's Day celebration without mom on hand, so Carrie did me a favor and brought along her mother, the legendary...
Carrie Fisher: In my purse!
Tavis: In her purse. Yeah, right. The legendary actress Debbie Reynolds. For those of you watching tonight in Indianapolis or Muncie or Bloomington, Chicago, anywhere in that Midwest region, my hometown. You know, I'm from Indianapolis. I'm from the Indiana--
Carrie: Get out of town!
Debbie Reynolds: We're going there.
Tavis: You're going there. I'm gonna tell people that you're coming there. Debbie and Carrie are performing together next month on June 2--write that down, June 2--in Indianapolis. Here are mother and daughter together from an appearance last year in Chicago. Check this out.
Carrie: Uh-oh.
Debbie: I talk a lot, and that's why it's unusual for us to be invited to speak together.
Carrie: There's gonna be no oxygen in the room. I had to go.
Debbie: That's a plug. That's--Ha ha ha ha! I'm just kidding! She gets upset. Plug. She does Oxygen, you know, it's a cable television show, and she's really good in it. Really good.
Tavis: I'm just checking out this clip, thinking, Carrie, this is not--Half an hour isn't going to be enough. I need, like, a miniseries for the two of you. I need, like, 3 nights.
Carrie: Why don't you do a 24-hour thing? People call in and bid on telling us to shut up.
Debbie: No, no. We could stay over.
Tavis: Yeah, we got a big stage. There's a lot of oxygen in this room, so--
Debbie: And I brought Carrie's book.
Tavis: Did you? Oh, look at this.
Debbie: I brought Carrie's book, because I don't want to plug it too much, you know? I--I'm not in this one.
Carrie: Yes, you are!
Debbie: Oh...
Carrie: Yes, you are.
Debbie: It's just a terrific book.
Tavis: How cool is that to have your mom, who is a legend in her own right, toting around your book, telling everybody about it?
Carrie: Well, it's...-'Cool' is the wrong word for it. Cool?
Debbie: Embarrassing.
Carrie: There's another word. It's a combination of cool and embarrassing. Embaracool.
Tavis: Embaracool. Yeah.
Debbie: Well, I'm very proud of Carrie, 'cause she's a great writer, and this is a wonderful new novel, and she has 3 others, of course.
Tavis: Yeah. Ha ha ha!
Carrie: And I'm very proud of my mother, 'cause she's a wonderful tap-dancer, and she's been married so many times, and she's still alive to talk about it.
Debbie: Tammy, Tammy.
Carrie: But she doesn't have any money. But at least she doesn't have any more husbands. You paid them to go away.
Debbie: Yes, I did. Well, they left on purpose.
Tavis: Now, I'm cracking up 'cause I'm trying to imagine...that the--
Debbie: Giving birth?
Tavis: Ha ha ha ha!
Carrie: No, getting pregnant.
Tavis: I wasn't gonna say giving birth, but the fact that the 2 of you live on the same--I'm told, I've not been there--but you live, like, on the same property.
Carrie: Please come by.
Debbie: You can stay at my house, or you can stay at her house.
Carrie: You don't have enough room. You can stay, if she sleeps in your closet.
Debbie: She has a guest room.
Carrie: I do. I have a guest room.
Tavis: But you live on the same property.
Carrie: Yes, we do.
Tavis: How is that?
Debbie: Wonderful.
Carrie: It's lovely, because there's a hill between us, and we both have--I have bursitis, you have arthritis, so we don't see each other all the time.
Debbie: I can't make it up the hill.
Carrie: Well, she can if there's a lure. I forget what that would be, though. I cook now! Tell about my cooking.
Debbie: She's the only cook in our family. My mother was the worst cook. I didn't know that until I left home and ate someplace else, and then I realized her black-eyed peas were pretty horrible. I thought it was an eye at first. Um, mother was a terrible cook, and I'm just the worst cook in the--
Carrie: She can't even heat up food. It warms around the sides--
Tavis: Not even in a microwave?
Carrie: No, no. And it stays lukewarm in the middle. Her creamed corn is a poem of weirdness.
Debbie: The trouble--See, they told me to make hard-boiled potatoes for Halloween. You know, you dip them in--
Carrie: Hard-boiled potatoes?
Debbie: Hard-boiled potato--no, tomat--eggs, eggs.
Carrie: I want that. Mmm!
Debbie: Eggs!
Carrie: You really want to get over for her stuff. Wow!
Debbie: Anyway, it blew up. You see, if I can't talk about it, I don't want to cook it.
Tavis: I'm trying to imagine, again, living on the same property, the hill. I understand the hill. John, can you put up this magazine cover, modern screen? This is a great photo here. You remember this?
Carrie: Vividly, as though it were yesterday!
Tavis: Ha ha ha! Well, for you, it was. It was just--
Debbie: She's 2 years old, yes.
Carrie: There's a lot of dead brain cells here. I don't think either one of us remembers who you are.
Tavis: You came out at an early age. Did you--
Carrie: When I was probably one day old, I came out of you.
Debbie: Well, she was only 7 pounds, 3 ounces. She came out OK. My son was 9 pounds. That was...ohh!
Tavis: Yeah, that was a big one.
Carrie: Go into details and show all the people why I can't eat dinner with you.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Debbie: We won't talk about it.
Tavis: Why--Did you ever have any reservations, Debbie, about--I can't even say Debbie. Ms. Reynolds.
Debbie: No, Debbie.
Carrie: Go for the Debbie...or Mary Francis.
Tavis: Debbie.
Debbie: He doesn't know who that is and thinks--
Carrie: That was her real birth name.
Tavis: Mary Francis?
Carrie: I'm Carrie Francis, she's Mary Francis, and my daughter's named Larry Francis.
Tavis: But you called her Billie.
Carrie: Oh, that's right. I named her Billie. I was supposed to do Larry Francis.
Tavis: OK, ha ha ha! Did you have any reservations at all about putting your child so far out front in the media at such a young age?
Carrie: With a balloon.
Tavis: It's a cute balloon, though. It's a cute dress. It's a cute everything.
Debbie: Well, no, those movie magazines in those days weren't scandal magazines--
Tavis: Like they are today.
Debbie: They weren't like--it wasn't...-'Confidential' started that, and now we have only scandal magazines. But in the original movie magazines, they were just family. It was a good thing.
Carrie: I'm in great shape.
Tavis: I can tell. And how's Billie?
Carrie: Fantastic. We're all just wonderful. Thank you.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Carrie: We're children of the corn.
Debbie: All the girls have survived. They're very strong girls.
Tavis: Speaking of surviving, I was fascinated. I was trying to figure out...in my research here, some of the parallels in your own lives. One of the parallels is that both of you essentially were single mothers.
Debbie: Were single mothers?
Tavis: Single moms.
Debbie: Meaning not married?
Tavis: You pretty much did it on your own, did you not?
Debbie: No. I had a--
Carrie: Eddie was so helpful. You can't imagine. He was Mr. diaper changer.
Tavis: I hear the jokes.
Carrie: He breast-fed the 2 of us. Incredible.
Debbie: Meaning, were we single when we had our children?
Tavis: No, I mean you pretty much did all the hard work by yourself.
Carrie: Here are the similarities. We have to go to this.
Debbie: We have a boy and a girl.
Carrie: That's not true. We--Who's the boy of mine? We're gonna do this later. We both did a film at 19 with 2 men...
Tavis: Right.
Carrie: And we both did our first film at 17.
Debbie: Yeah.
Carrie: OK, that's the similarity.
Debbie: She did 'Shampoo'--
Carrie: And then--oh! And I married a short Jewish singer, and she married a short Jewish singer.
Debbie: Mm-hmm. But hers is working, and mine is not.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Carrie: That's right. Mine is talented.
Tavis: And she tap-dances, and you don't.
Carrie: I do, at home, in the closet.
Tavis: OK.
Debbie: Carrie's a good tap-dancer.
Tavis: Is she really?
Carrie: I can tap-dance.
Tavis: 50, by my count--I think I got this right--54 years since 'Singin' in the Rain.'
Debbie: 50. Well--
Tavis: Yeah, 2002, I think, was the 50th anniversary, yeah.
Carrie: She was 19 when she made it.
Tavis: It's been 50-plus years. I saw it the other day. It's still just as good now.
Carrie: It is good.
Tavis: Do you ever see it?
Debbie: Oh, yes. They have these celebrations all the time, you know. If you live long enough, they celebrate you.
Tavis: Ha ha ha! Is that what I gotta do? Just keep living?
Debbie: Well, every 40 years, 30 years, they celebrate it, and then 40, 50 now. It's 55 years since I've been in the business. 'Singin' in the Rain' was made in 1952. So here we are.
Carrie: Oh, my God.
Tavis: When Carrie--Hold that book back up again.
Debbie: Yes, sir.
Tavis: There you go. I just want to put that book out there again. When Carrie writes a book, as she joked earlier--you joked earlier that you weren't in this one, 'The Best Awful'. Carrie said you were. I don't know if you are or if you aren't. You certainly were in the 'Postcards.' What did that do to the relationship?
Carrie: She wasn't in the book.
Tavis: She wasn't in the book, but come on, Carrie, you know...
Carrie: She was in the movie.
Tavis: In the movie, OK.
Debbie: Well, they had to make it a hit, so they had to write something up.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Carrie: Our relationship, I guess, is more interesting than most of the relationships we have with other people.
Debbie: Ha ha ha! Whatever that means.
Tavis: What does that mean? I was about to ask that. What does that mean, Carrie?
Carrie: Well...it is...
Debbie: Well, we have a wonderful--
Carrie: Weird.
Debbie: She is a very talented young lady, and I'm very blessed to have had Carrie and Todd. I have--He's a little bit younger. She doesn't like to talk about age, so I don't talk about it.
Carrie: I--When have I not talked about it? It's not like my birth moment was not documented.
Debbie: Yes, that's right, and I got so many presents. It was wonderful.
Tavis: Ha ha ha.
Debbie: You got so many presents, but I opened them all, because you weren't there. Mm-hmm.
Carrie: You probably did get good presents.
Debbie: I did.
Carrie: He was treating you very badly by then.
Debbie: Well, we don't talk about this, but why do you want to talk about Eddie?
Carrie: I want to talk about it. I want to bring it out in the public now.
Debbie: Oh, my goodness.
Carrie: It's been bugging me, that's why.
Debbie: Oh, sure, sure, sure.
Carrie: It's just been bugging me.
Tavis: What was it like, Carrie, growing up in the shadow of these two?
Carrie: It was hell! It was a nightmare!
Tavis: As a matter of fact--
Debbie: She likes to kid about this. Eddie wasn't even around. You know, he left early, 'cause he went down the Nile, so he wasn't there for them.
Carrie: Oh, my God!
Debbie: He wasn't there.
Carrie: You're bringing it up again!
Tavis: Maybe it really was bad for Carrie, because the last time, in fact, Carrie was on this show...I was a little concerned, Ms. Reynolds. I want you to see this. I asked them to cue this up. I was a little concerned because the last time she was on the show, she was reading some material that kind of disturbed me. I want you to see what--
Debbie: Oh, writing her book?
Tavis: No, reading a book. She was reading a book that I wanted you to--Jonathan, roll this clip.
Carrie: I don't want to look.
Tavis: This is what you're reading.
Carrie: I'm reading 'Suicide in the Entertainment Industry.'
Tavis: 'Suicide in the Entertainment Industry.' This must be a lot of fun.
Carrie: It is a joyous romp through our business. And, you know, I looked myself up, and every time I go in there and I'm not in there, and it's a good day.
Debbie: Well, that is good. I'm glad she's not in that book.
Carrie: I thought it was--My mother didn't want me to tell the story of--We went to visit my father accidentally, and, um...or my alleged father, I call him, and he had bought these little ear, you know, hearing aids, those $5,000 ones. You can hardly see them. They go in.
Tavis: They're good, though.
Carrie: The night before--They're wonderful, apparently. The night before, he had put them in his pillbox so that he would remember where they were.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Carrie: Uh-huh.
Tavis: Put his hearing aid in the pillbox.
Carrie: So he'd remember where they were in the morning, and...
Tavis: And he remembered and--
Carrie: That's right. He ate them. And so when we saw him that night, my daughter and myself were yelling in his stomach and his ass when he could not hear us.
Debbie: But you weren't sure it was in his ass.
Carrie: We had to, you know, just take a chance. It could have been anywhere by then. It could have been anywhere.
Debbie: He couldn't hear, so she would yell, "So, dad, how are you?!"
Carrie: She had to--We're always on the way to a dignity rally together, especially anything to do with Eddie. Dignity.
Debbie: But he's fine now. He married a very rich woman and--
Carrie: No, she passed away.
Debbie: Oh, I don't--But he got the money, so--
Carrie: Not really. The will is being contested.
Debbie: Oh, well, he'll get the money. He's lucky that way.
Carrie: I don't know about that. Anyway--
Tavis: And yet you seem so well-adjusted.
Debbie: Oh, ha ha ha ha!
Tavis: After all this, Carrie.
Carrie: Actually, I am. Please don't tell her this.
Debbie: No, she is.
Carrie: It'll go to her wig.
Debbie: No, you're very--There's no one more intelligent than you are. There's no one more brilliant than you. You're a fabulous writer.
Carrie: I'm very sane about how crazy I am.
Debbie: No, you are perfectly together, because you know any of the problems that you have, you address, you go to very talented people that have through the years told you your problem.
Carrie: Piano teachers.
Tavis: When she wasn't so well-adjusted, when she was going through those difficult moments, as a mother, how did you deal with that?
Debbie: Oh, I ran right to the psychiatrist. Everything was fine. I have been in mental health and emotionally disturbed and all this sort of--Thalian, it's a charity that I--I just didn't know that our family would grow into being in every room.
Carrie: She has an award from the mental health people, and the award looks like this. It's a man like this.
Tavis: Ha ha ha!
Carrie: Looking like he's having a problem, you know, digesting his food.
Debbie: I think it's a marvelous charity, and I've been working on this, for this cause for many, many years. Little did I know that Carrie would develop a problem of this kind, and now, of course, we've had to learn how to deal with it.
Carrie: Tell them which kind, because it sounds like I have corns on my feet.
Debbie: No, no. You don't.
Carrie: No, I think she means...I'm bipolar. I don't even want to--No, most everything is sort of pleasant now, isn't it, mom?
Debbie: Yes, it is. It is, and I live right down--There's a driveway, and Carrie's--
Carrie: We share a driveway, and I cook for her. How was the banana bread last night?
Debbie: Fabulous. I had it for breakfast also. She cooks.
Tavis: You made banana bread?
Carrie: Yes.
Debbie: She's the only one in our family that cooks.
Carrie: Souffles and risotto, and here's what she said. Didn't I tell you this before, though? "Carrie's in the kitchen...cooking." She says, "Cooking," like, "Shaving her head." So...
Debbie: Well, it's just she's the first one in our family that cooks.
Carrie: She doesn't understand it.
Debbie: No. Cooking is very--She says it's very cleansing, because she doesn't have to know what she's doing. She reads a cookbook, and she just follows what is says. She doesn't argue with the book. Ah, but it does turn out. By the way, I can't cook, 'cause twice I tried it, and I burnt down both houses. I burnt down the houses, so my children don't want me to cook, because it's so expensive.
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