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I was still in grade school at the time, but I remember how shocked everyone was. I didn't keep up with the what the stars did then or do now, but everyone sort of did a gasp when Eddie Fisher left his wife Debbie Reynolds back in the 1950's. Yes, they were "Princess Leia's" parents, but each of them was a bigger star in the mid 1950's than Carrie would ever be; Eddie a pop singer with his own network TV shows and Debbie a singing movie star. People thought Eddie and Debbie were the cutest, sweetest, most wholesome couple ever. Then it all blew up.
If I don't have the events totally mixed up, everyone was feeling terribly sorry for Elizabeth Taylor who'd lost her husband Michael Todd in a plane crash. Eddie and Debbie were so close to the Todds that they named their second child after him. Then suddenly Eddie was divorcing Debbie, and everyone knew it was to marry Liz. Neither Debbie's nor Eddie's career survived the scandal. Debbie seemed to disappear even though people felt very sorry for her. Eddie didn't get a lot of sympathy. NBC fired him from his TV show because of the scandal. Liz, of course, never missed a beat for another decade, eventually casting off Eddie for Richard Burton.
Wikipedia reports that after Eddie's autobiography was redone in lurid detail in 1999, Carrie responded, "That's it. I'm having my DNA fumigated."
Eddie Fisher was the first celebrity I remember who seemed to have it all, and managed to throw it all away. He wasn't the first one ever and he certainly wasn't the last. But on the week of his passing at least those of us who remember him should say his problems did teach us something about the difference between publicity and reality.
If I don't have the events totally mixed up, everyone was feeling terribly sorry for Elizabeth Taylor who'd lost her husband Michael Todd in a plane crash. Eddie and Debbie were so close to the Todds that they named their second child after him. Then suddenly Eddie was divorcing Debbie, and everyone knew it was to marry Liz. Neither Debbie's nor Eddie's career survived the scandal. Debbie seemed to disappear even though people felt very sorry for her. Eddie didn't get a lot of sympathy. NBC fired him from his TV show because of the scandal. Liz, of course, never missed a beat for another decade, eventually casting off Eddie for Richard Burton.
Wikipedia reports that after Eddie's autobiography was redone in lurid detail in 1999, Carrie responded, "That's it. I'm having my DNA fumigated."
Eddie Fisher was the first celebrity I remember who seemed to have it all, and managed to throw it all away. He wasn't the first one ever and he certainly wasn't the last. But on the week of his passing at least those of us who remember him should say his problems did teach us something about the difference between publicity and reality.
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And then there's Carrie.
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You had plenty of company. I was young enough that I didn't understand how such things could happen, even if I knew by then they did. My mother was still very prejudiced against anyone who'd been divorced so she was quietly disgusted that Eddie had left, and her opinion of pop singers went from bad to worse. My father almost never reacted to such things, but this time even he seemed surprised. My big sister and her girlfriends seemed to quickly write off Eddie as a cad and a loser, which looking back wasn't far from the truth.
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