Billie Lourd says mom Carrie Fisher ‘lives on’ through the ‘joy’ of grandkids on ninth anniversary of her death

Key points

• Billie Lourd shared a tribute to her mother, Carrie Fisher, on the ninth anniversary of her death.

• Lourd said that the Star Wars actress “lives on” through the “joy” of her children.

• “This joy only exists because she existed,” Lourd explained.

Billie Lourd is remembering her mother, Carrie Fisher.

The Booksmart star shared an Instagram post commemorating the ninth anniversary of the Star Wars actress’ sudden death and expressing the joy of motherhood in the wake of her grief.

“It has been 9 years since my mom died,” Lourd wrote on Saturday, sharing a photo of herself with her parents and another of her kids with her dad. “My daughter woke up earlier than usual this morning so we went outside together and she knowingly laid her little head on my chest. She looked up at me with her big soulful eyes and said ‘I love you mama’ and grabbed my face with her little chubby hands and kissed me. She does this pretty much every morning and dare I say, there is no better way to wake up and no ritual I love more.”

Lourd and her husband, Austen Rydell, welcomed a son in 2020 and a daughter in 2022. The actress said that she ensures that her children still hear about their late grandmother, and expressed how much she cherishes the time her kids spend with her father, Bryan Lourd.

“I told [my daughter] how much her grandmomby would have loved her and she looked up at me and kissed me again,” she wrote. “Then we walked to breakfast with my dad and they ran around together like 2 old souls that have known each other forever. Watching my dad with my kids is one of the greatest joys I’ve ever known. The kind of joy that makes your face hurt because you can’t stop smiling.”

Lourd credits Fisher for that happiness. “Then I started thinking about how this joy wouldn’t be possible without my mom,” she wrote. “This joy only exists because she existed. So even though she is not physically part of this joy, she is part of the reason for it. Even though she is not alive she lives on through this joy.”

The Scream Queens actress went on to explain how multifaceted grief can be. “My grief takes on many shapes — today, right now in this moment, that shape is this joy I get to experience watching my kids with my dad,” she wrote. “It could and will change shapes multiple times throughout this day because grief is never just one thing but right now I am relishing in this bittersweet grieful joy.”

Lourd ended her tribute with a reflection on a treasured quote from Fisher. “As my mom wisely said, ‘Nothing is ever really over. Just over there,'” she said. “My mombys life isnt really over. Just over there — in my kids and in this joy I’m able to experience because of her. Thank you momby. I will never stop missing you.”

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Lourd starred alongside her mother in a supporting role in the Star Wars sequels The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. The actress recently showed her kids their grandmother’s work in 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

“They were a little bit confused,” Lourd told E! News. “They’re like, ‘Wait, that’s my grandma?’ Like, ‘No, that’s Princess Leia, your grandma’s Carrie, but that’s Princess Leia.'”

Lourd said that the Star Wars movies are “like the ultimate high-budget home movie,” adding, “For me to get to have those things and to get to show them my mom in those movies is so special.”

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