Billie Lourd is sharing how her late grandmother Debbie Reynolds felt about one of Hollywood’s most infamous affairs — her then husband Eddie Fisher cheating on her with Elizabeth Taylor.
In an interview with The Times published on Saturday, September 19, Lourd, 34, said Reynolds didn’t shy away from discussing the situation.
“That was one of my grandma’s favorite bedtime stories,” Billie told the outlet. “Like, ‘You know, dear, we used to have a house in Palm Springs. But then there was the divorce from Eddie…’”
Reynolds and Fisher, who were married from 1955 to 1959, were a Hollywood golden couple and shared two children: daughter Carrie Fisher (Lourd’s late mom) and son Todd Fisher.
At the time, Reynolds and Fisher were close friends with another high-profile couple, actress Taylor and her husband, producer Mike Todd.
When Todd died in a plane crash in March 1958, Fisher embarked on an affair with Taylor — destroying his marriage to Reynolds in one of the biggest Hollywood scandals.
When asked about the affair by one of the era’s gossip columnists, Hedda Hopper, Taylor reportedly defended her action by quipping, “What do you expect me to do, sleep alone?”
In 1988, Reynolds reflected on her marriage and the highly publicized infidelity during an interview with ET.
“We, at that point in our marriage, were happily married. We had a wonderful son and daughter,” the Singin’ in the Rain star said. “But, obviously, I was incorrect about that, you know? Again, that was my viewpoint. I was happy, I was in love, but obviously he was not.”
Reynolds continued, “[Eddie]’s like a good race horse: he gets off really, really good, and then he loses the race.”
The actress also recalled how many people in her social circle appeared to know about the affair before she did.
“We were all the best of friends, so there’s nothing wrong with that. So, to my mind, there was nothing wrong with that,” she said. “Then, I went to a party — a dinner party — and everyone was sort of whispering, like, ‘Does she know…’ And I wanted to know what they were whispering about, but nobody would tell me what they were whispering about, so I figured it was about me. So, then I put two and two together, because I could hear that certain [words], ‘Eddie’ and ‘Elizabeth’ and such.”
Reynolds and Fisher ultimately divorced on May 12, 1959 following the scandal. Fisher and Taylor married the same day — just three hours after Reynolds and Fisher’s divorce was finalized. Taylor and Fisher later divorced in March 1964.
In the interview with The Times, Lourd also shared her appreciation for her late grandmother and mom, who died one day apart in 2016 at 84 and 60, respectively.
“They really were two of the most talented women of all time and I feel so lucky to live under their glittery umbrellas,” she told the outlet. “For a while I tried to hide from it but now I say it loud and proud — I’m Carrie Fisher’s daughter and I’m Debbie Reynolds’s granddaughter, and I feel so lucky to be able to say that.”
