Carrie Fisher Wrote Letters to Billie Lourd When She Was Pregnant
Billie Lourd was Carrie Fisher’s only child. When she was born, Fisher famously protected Lourd from the Hollywood spotlight. However, Lourd started acting in the late 2000s and found her own fame.
Before she died in 2016, Fisher wrote several books. In January 2021, Lourd shared that her mother wrote letters dedicated to her when she became pregnant with the Booksmart star.
Billie Lourd’s baby announcement
Fisher gave birth to Lourd in 1992. The American Horror Story actor was welcomed into the world by Fisher and her ex, Bryan Lourd. As Fisher’s daughter, Lourd shared that she had difficulty finding what she wanted to do with her life. However, she discovered her love for acting when she appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Since then, Lourd has appeared in two additional Star Wars films. She also worked on Scream Queens and Will & Grace.
On September 24, 2020, Lourd announced that she added “mother” to her resume. To her fans’ surprise, Lourd experienced her first pregnancy during the quarantine. She shared a photo of her baby’s feet on Instagram. Lourd then left a short caption and tagged her fiance, Austin Rydell. The caption showed that Lourd named her baby after Fisher to represent her late mother’s legacy.
“Introducing: Kingston Fisher Lourd Rydel,” Lourd wrote underneath the Instagram photo.
How Carrie Fisher recorded her pregnancy with Billie Lourd
Lourd opened up about hiding her pregnancy from the world during an appearance on SiriusXM show Quarantined with Bruce. Lourd told host Bruce Bozzi that she and Rydell are adapting well to parenthood. She also clarified that her son wasn’t a product of the quarantine.
“He’s not technically a quarantine baby,” Lourd said. “’I want to make that known because a lot of people are having trendy quarantine babies Kingston was conceived before the quarantine. So he’s technically just a Caribbean baby.”
Throughout the interview, Bozzi asked Lourd about Fisher. The discussion led to Lourd’s admiration for Fisher’s books. She said that one of her mom’s favorite books, Delusions of Grandma, is filled with letters from Fisher to Lourd. Through the piece, Lourd discovered that her mom had a different name picked out for her.
“It’s so incredible, and it’s structured with letters to me while she’s pregnant with me,” Lourd said. “I’ve got to reread it now that I’ve had a baby I think that it would be a total different experience and so incredible. But I was supposed to be named Esme, which, thank god I wasn’t, sorry to anybody who’s named Esme. It’s a beautiful name, but I prefer Billie. It’s super, super sweet, and great.”
Billie Lourd watched a Carrie Fisher movie for Mother’s Day
Since Fisher died, Lourd has opened up about life without her mother. In May 2020, she memorialized her mother in honor of Mother’s Day. In the heartfelt Instagram post, Lourd shared a black and white image of her and Fisher.
“Sending my love to anyone who has lost a mother and anyone who might just be having a complicated Mother’s Day this year,” Lourd wrote in May 2020.
Lourd continued to write that 2020 marked four years of her celebrating Mother’s Day without Fisher. However, she said she honored her “Momby” by eating Fisher’s favorite foods and watching her favorite movie. One of those movies was Postcards From the Edge. The 1990s film starred Meryl Streep as Fisher.
