Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

James Blunt Reveals 'Pressure' To Be 'Thin' Ultimately Led To Friend Carrie Fisher's Death

James Blunt; Carrie Fisher
Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Bauer Media; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

The singer, who was close friends with Fisher, believes pressure to lose weight to reprise her role as Princess Leia in the recent 'Star Wars' trilogy played a factor in her 2016 death.

James Blunt blames "pressure" to be thin for Carrie Fisher's 2016 death.

The singer made the claim while promoting his memoir Loosely Based on a Made-Up Story at the Hay Festival in Wales, per The Independent.


The British "You're Beautiful" singer was speaking about his "American mother" when he said that Fisher was pushed to drop weight to reprise her role as Princess Leia in the recent Star Wars trilogy.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released in 2017, after her death.

Blunt told the audience at the festival:

“I was with her the day before she died, when she came down to my house."

He and Fisher became close friends in the early 2000s after meeting at a party, according to his website.

The singer continued that Fisher hadn't been taking care of herself.

“And she’d been really mistreating her body.”

He attributed this mistreatment to "pressure to be thin" for her role in Star Wars.

“So she was really on a high and a positive, but they had applied a lot of pressure on her to be thin."
"She spoke about the difficulties that women have in the industry, how men are allowed to grow old, and women are certainly not.”

He added that she began using drugs again in response.

“She really put a lot of pressure on herself, started using drugs again and by the time she got on the plane, she had effectively killed herself."
“They say it was heart failure of some kind, but she had taken enough drugs to have a really good party.”

Fisher went into cardiac arrest on a flight from London to Los Angeles. She died days later.

A toxicology report showed the actor had cocaine, heroin, MDMA and methadone in her system.

People on social media agreed the pressure to be thin in Hollywood, especially for women, is unhealthy and often times unrealistic.






And, of course, they're still mourning the loss of Fisher.

Fisher had been open about losing weight for her role, as well.

In 2015, she told Good Housekeeping UK that she lost 35 pounds for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“They don’t want to hire all of me — only about three-quarters!”
“Nothing changes, it’s an appearance-driven thing. I’m in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance."
“That is so messed up. They might as well say get younger, because that’s how easy it is.”

In his memoir, Blunt revealed he indulged with Fisher on occasion, despite knowing she struggled with substance abuse.

“Charlie, her best friend, confronted her more directly and told her she needed to quit drugs."
“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 [Lourd] blames me in part for her death, and no longer speaks to me.”

Neither Lucasfilm nor Rian Johnson, who directed the 2017 film Star Wars: The Last Jedi, have responded to requests for comment.

More from Entertainment/celebrities

Dr. Sandra Lee
TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle/YouTube

'Dr. Pimple Popper' Star Reveals She Suffered Stroke While Filming Series: 'I Had A Part Of My Brain That Died'

It's already scary to witness a younger person go through a life-changing medical diagnosis, but it's especially jarring to see a medical professional, who presumably knows best about how to care for themselves, go through the same.

Sandra Lee, known as "Dr. Pimple Popper" on Lifetime, is well-known for her bedside manner, medical knowledge and ability to share her knowledge in an accessible way, and, of course, her unique approach to dermatological care.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rob Schneider; Elizabeth Banks
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images; Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Rob Schneider Dragged For Criticizing Elizabeth Banks' 'Dangerous Rhetoric' After She Called Out White Female Trump Voters

After actor and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks—who played Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games—called out white women who voted for President Donald Trump, MAGA actor Rob Schneider lashed out against what he referred to as her "dangerous rhetoric."

Those who've read the book and seen the film adaptation of The Hunger Games know that Trinket—known for joyfully announcing, "Happy Hunger Games and the odds may be ever in your favor!"—is a mistress of propaganda for a hostile government that forces teenagers to fight to the death every year to intimidate critics and keep society's poorest and most vulnerable in line. Trinket eventually embraces the rebellion.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kid Rock
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Kid Rock Dragged After Offering Massive Discount To His MAGA Festival Due To Abysmal Ticket Sales

Musician Kid Rock has hitched his wagon to president Donald Trump for quite some time now, and it seems he too is in the "find out" stage of that particularly exercise in FAFO.

It seems that when the president you form your entire personality around craters to a catastrophic approval rating even for him, your ship starts to sink too.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dan Driscoll; Tammy Duckworth
Cheriss May/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Army Secretary Sparks Outrage After Shutting Down Army Social Media Accounts For Honoring Tammy Duckworth's Military Service

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is facing heavy criticism after he ordered that all accounts associated with the Army unit "Soldier for Life" (SFL) be shut down after the unit shared a post on social media celebrating Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth's military service.

Duckworth is a double amputee who lost both of her legs in combat in 2004 when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Tom Homan; Pope Leo XIV
Fox News; Vatican Media/Vatican Pool - Corbis/Getty Images

Trump's Border Czar Ripped For Hypocrisy After Telling Pope Leo To 'Stay Out Of Politics'

President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan was called out for hypocrisy after telling Pope Leo XIV to "stay out of politics" after he clashed with Trump over the widely unpopular war in Iran.

Last week, Pope Leo criticized the war and called on the world "to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war, which is continuing to escalate and is not resolving anything."

Keep ReadingShow less