Paul Simon Describes Marriage To Carrie Fisher As An ‘Emotional Upheaval’

Carrie Fisher fondly remembered for portraying Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, had a highly successful career lasting more than five decades. The actress died in 2016 after suffering a cardiac arrest during a flight from London to Los Angeles.

Aside from her legacy in Hollywood, Carrie is a mother of one to Billie Lourd, who also followed in her footsteps. The late actress welcomed Lourd with her partner, Bryan Lourd. The actress first tied the knot with Paul Simon; however, their marriage was brief, lasting only one year. Recently, Paul talked about the dynamics of his ‘whirlwind’ marriage to the late actress, describing it as “emotional upheaval.”

Paul Simon and Carrie Fisher’s marriage

The songwriter shared the intricacies of his relationship with Carrie in a new documentary, In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. The film explored his iconic career, legacy, and brief, complicated marriage.

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“Carrie was much more show business-oriented,” Paul explained. “I went along with that — that’s the world that she grew up with; she was used to it. She was used to a lot of press and things like that. It wasn’t intimidating or anything. She knew how to manipulate it and make it work for her. She was really good at it, and I wasn’t.”

Paul and Carrie met in the ’70s and dated in between before tying the knot in 1983, Paul feels Carrie’s Star Wars fame affected their relationship. “There were lots of things that were remarkable about the time, but also, it was two people at career peaks, and that’s always complicated,” he wrote. “All of it was kind of a whirlwind. Carrie was in a complete fame bubble because of ‘Star Wars.'” The late actress wrote in her 2016 memoir, Wishful Drinking, that marrying Paul was a mistake on her part. “Well, because I think, if you look at me, at the most, you can think I’m an interesting girlfriend,” she wrote. “But a wife? I think you’re going to be disappointed, Poor Paul. He had to put up with a lot with me.”

The 82-year-old also added that he made many mistakes and regrets making some decisions that further affected their union. “I mean, what was I thinking? Certainly not thinking about life, you know, that you actually like have to stop,” Simon said in a previous interview. “Marriage is very … it’s a hard thing to do. You have to concentrate on— not everything can happen at once, not everything is a media event. All types of mistakes on top of mistakes on top of mistakes. I realized I could become exhausted by— I could exhaust myself from emotional upheaval.”