Joely Fisher Knew Debbie Reynolds “Would Not Last” Without Carrie Fisher

Getty Images/Michael Caulfield(LOS ANGELES) — Carrie Fisher’s half-sister knew Debbie Reynolds “would not last” without her daughter, the half-sister, Joely Fisher, said in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America,” that aired today.

“She kept saying that she was, she wanted more time,” Joely Fisher said of Reynolds during Carrie Fisher’s last moments. “I knew that if Carrie wasn’t going to survive this, that Debbie would not. You knew it.”

“You could see it in her face,” she said about Reynolds. “She would not last without [Carrie] on the planet.”

Carrie Fisher died on Dec. 27 at the age of 60, four days after she went into cardiac arrestwhile on an airplane. One day after Carrie Fisher’s death, Reynolds, 84, died after suffering a stroke.

Joely Fisher and Tricia Fisher were the daughters of singer Eddie Fisher — the late Star Wars actress’s father — and they grew up nextdoor to each other.

When asked about their happiest memories of Carrie, Joely Fisher said in the emotional interview with ABC’s Chris Connelly, “It’s more like getting to have her one-on-one, and not share her, that’s what I think of, and that’s what I would miss, is being able to just be with her in her home, or wherever, and have her to myself.”

Tricia Fisher said she remembered Carrie as “the coolest big sister in the world.”

“She spoke her mind and spoke her truth in, in this just bold way that, made everyone feel a little bit more comfortable about their own flaws and, felt even more interesting for having flaws,” she said.

Joely Fisher added that she remembers seeing Carrie “in a 40-foot close-up and going, ‘Wow, that’s my sister.’”

Tricia and Joely Fisher added that they always bonded with Carrie because the three shared the same absent father.

“We grew up without a father,” Tricia Fisher said, adding that their father was an “amazing, charismatic man.”

“And when you were in his presence, you felt like you were the most important, most beautiful, most special person in the world,” Tricia Fisher said, “And then, he would go away and, and you know, not show up.”

“We all three had that experience,” Tricia Fisher added.

Joely Fisher said she texted with Carrie Fisher before her half-sister boarded the plane where she went into cardiac arrest. “We talked about age, ’cause she was floored that she had just turned 60. We talked about children, we talked about our frail mothers, who now, we’ve lost Debbie,” Joely Fisher said of their conversation.

Tricia Fisher said that they originally found out about what happened from the media, “I was talking on the phone with Joely, and she said, she clicked over and came back and said, ‘TMZ just called me and, and some, something happened to Carrie.'”

Tricia Fisher said when they rushed to the hospital they found Carrie Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, “handling everything.”

Tricia Fisher said her half-sister “adored Billie,” as “the most amazing accomplishment of her life, for sure.”

Joely Fisher recalled being in the room with Carrie during her final days.

“I remember just holding her hand and telling her that we were there, that we would make sure that her daughter was whole, which she will be,” Joely Fisher said, adding that she wanted to make sure her half-sister was not in any kind of pain, “And then, I told her she would love how high she was right now.”

Tricia Fisher said she felt “numb,” over the loss of her half-sister. “Just the fact that that energy is gone from our lives and gone from the world,” Tricia Fisher said, “is hard to wrap your head around, as far as forever.”

Joely Fisher added that they are able to find a bit of solace in the legacy she left behind through her work.

“Is it cliché to say that she lives on in her, in her work? And we can look to the screen and we can look to the pages of her books? Perhaps,” Joely Fisher said. “But it’s what we have to cling to.”

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