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

Teacher leading math class
Compassionate Eye Foundation/Steven Errico/Getty Images

Teacher Stunned After Student Argues That People Shouldn't Have To 'Think Anymore' Thanks To ChatGPT

There's no doubt that ChatGPT and similar tools are growing in relevance and application, and they're growing fast. The problem is that many people, especially younger individuals, seem to struggle with how much they should depend on the tools.

We already knew that ChatGPT could be a problem regarding critical thinking and creativity, so maybe we should have anticipated the mindsets that would develop, snubbing independent thinking when tools like ChatGPT are available.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rapunzel and crows at Tokyo DisneySea
@PopBase/X

Video Of Crows Ripping Out Animatronic Rapunzel's Hair At Tokyo DisneySea Goes Viral—And Yikes!

Disney princesses are usually known for their whimsical singing and befriending creatures from all across the animal kingdom, but Princess Rapunzel at Tokyo DisneySea may have misunderstood the assignment.

Earlier this week, Rapunzel was caught on video at DisneySea in Tokyo, but she didn't go viral for her cheery demeanor or her singing voice, which passers-by can hear from the base of her elegant tower. Rather, it was a pair of intruders who put her in the spotlight.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man getting a haircut
YakobchukOlena/Getty Images

Bald Men Are Up In Arms Over Viral Chart That Predicts Political Affiliation Based On A Man's Haircut

Can a man's haircut tell you his political affiliation? Scientifically, of course not... but we probably all have a gut feeling about it, regardless!

And a TikToker has followed that lead by developing a chart that predicts a man's political persuasion based on his hair alone—and bald men are NOT happy about it.

Keep ReadingShow less
transgender pride flag in front of Supreme Court
Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Republicans Slammed For Soulless One-Word Response To Democrats' Trans Day Of Visibility Tweet

According to research by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, transgender people in the United States were over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime based on statistics from 2017-2018. A study by the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety found the number of trans people murdered in the U.S. nearly doubled between 2017and 2021.

In the last 5–9 years, those figures have only increased as the Republican Party has made trans people the target of many of their political campaigns and legislative actions.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pete Hegseth; Screenshot of Kid Rock during Army helicopter fly-by
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images; @KidRock/X

Pete Hegseth Slammed After Calling Off Investigation Into Army Helicopter Fly-By At Kid Rock's House

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was criticized for calling off the U.S. Army's investigation after MAGA musician Kid Rock posted a video of an Army Apache helicopter doing a fly-by at his Nashville home.

The video shows Kid Rock saluting as the aircraft hovers near his property, standing next to a replica Statue of Liberty by his pool. In the brief clip, a helicopter that appears to be an AH-64 Apache—an attack helicopter used by the U.S. Army and National Guard—flies at low altitude near his estate in Whites Creek.

Keep ReadingShow less