Billie Lourd "didn't really like" her late mother Carrie Fisher's 'Star Wars' character Princess Leia.
Billie Lourd
The 27-year-old actress has admitted growing up after her mother Carrie - who passed away in 2016 - had become a household name for her role in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy was difficult, because it meant there "wasn't as much room" for her mother to be herself.
Billie said: "I grew up with three parents: a mom, a dad and Princess Leia. I guess Princess Leia was kind of like my stepmom-technically family, but deep down I didn't really like her ... When Leia was around, there wasn't as much room for my mom - for Carrie."
The 'Booksmart' star never understood the hype around her late mother's iconic character - which she reprised for latest trilogy of movies and filmed prior to her passing - and didn't know why people wanted to "dress up like her".
She added: "I didn't want to watch her movie, I didn't want to dress up like her, I didn't even want to talk about her. I just wanted my mom - the one who lived on Earth."
But when Billie finally watched the 'Star Wars' movies when she was in middle school, she came to realise why Princess Leia was "so cool".
She said: "I realised then that Leia is more than just a character. She's a feeling. She is strength. She is grace. She is wit. She is femininity at its finest. She knows what she wants, and she gets it. She doesn't need anyone to defend her, because she defends herself.
"And no one could have played her like my mother. Princess Leia is Carrie Fisher. Carrie Fisher is Princess Leia. The two go hand in hand."
The 'Scream Queens' actress also recalled how "excited" her mother was to return to the 'Star Wars' franchise for the latest trilogy, but was only able to film two of the instalments before her tragic passing in 2016.
Speaking about the upcoming third movie 'The Rise of Skywalker', Billie said: "One of the last times we spoke on the phone, she talked about how excited she was that the next movie in the trilogy was going to be Leia's movie. Her movie. Leia was not just a sidekick one of the male leads had on his arm, or a damsel in distress. She was the hero herself."
Carrie will still appear in the movie using unused footage from the first two movies, and Billie says she gave director J.J. Abrams permission to use the footage because she thinks it's what Carrie would have wanted.
Writing in a moving essay for Time magazine, she said: "I knew it would be one of the most painful, difficult things I would ever do, but I said yes for her - for my mom. For Leia.
"I grew up with three parents: a mom, a dad and Princess Leia. Initially, Princess Leia was kind of like my stepmom. Now she's my guardian angel. And I'm her keeper."
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