James Blunt says Carrie Fisher’s daughter blames him for her mom’s 2016 death.
The singer unpacks his close relationship with Fisher in his memoir “Loosely Based on a Made-Up Story,” where he says using drugs with the “Star Wars” actor led to his falling out with Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd.
Blunt was with Fisher the night before she was found unresponsive on a flight from London to Los Angeles. She died days later, and a toxicology report found she had cocaine, heroin, MDMA and methadone in her system.
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The report did not state a definitive cause of death, but the actor and author had been open about her struggles with substance abuse for years. Her mother, actor Debbie Reynolds, died just days after her daughter’s death.
In the book, the “You’re Beautiful” singer remembers taking a “different approach” than friends who tried to convince Fisher to quit using drugs once and for all.
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“Charlie, her best friend, confronted her more directly and told her she needed to quit drugs…” he recalls. “I took a different approach and did them with her, pretending to myself that I would guide her to redemption one day — just not today. As a result, her — daughter Billie blames me in part for her death, and no longer speaks to me.”
Lourd previously said her mother’s mental health is what ultimately caused her death.
“My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life,” Lourd told People in 2017. “She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases.”
Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.