One of old Hollywood’s most famous love triangles eventually became part of family storytelling for Billie Lourd. The actress recently shared how her grandmother, Debbie Reynolds, would recount the dramatic collapse of her marriage to Eddie Fisher with humor rather than bitterness.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the scandal involving Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor became tabloid history in the late 1950s, when Fisher left Reynolds for Taylor after the death of Taylor’s husband, Mike Todd. Years later, however, Reynolds apparently found a way to turn the painful chapter into something Lourd could hear about as a child.
Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor’s Scandal Became a Family Story
Lourd told The Times that Reynolds used to bring up the divorce almost like a bedtime story. She would casually mention the family’s old Palm Springs home before steering into the breakup with Fisher, giving the scandal a surprisingly lighthearted tone.
Reynolds and Fisher married in 1955 and had two children, Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. After Todd died in a plane crash in 1958, Fisher became a source of support for Taylor. Their relationship eventually turned romantic, and Fisher divorced Reynolds in 1959 before marrying Taylor that same year. At the time, the scandal became one of Hollywood’s biggest celebrity stories. Yet Lourd’s recollection suggests Reynolds eventually reached a point where she could retell it with distance, wit, and perspective.
Reynolds and Taylor Eventually Repaired Their Friendship
The affair damaged the friendship between Reynolds and Taylor, who had known each other since their teenage years at MGM. Still, the two women eventually found their way back to each other. Years later, they unexpectedly crossed paths on a ship. Reynolds later recalled that she sent Taylor a note, and Taylor responded by suggesting they have dinner and put the past behind them. Reynolds said the evening included plenty of laughter, and their friendship continued afterward.
The Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor relationship therefore became about much more than the scandal that once defined it. Decades after headlines painted them as rivals, the two women chose reconciliation. Taylor died in 2011 at age 79, and Reynolds later remembered one of their final conversations as an honest exchange about getting older. Reynolds died in December 2016 at age 84, just one day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher. For Lourd, the story now exists as both Hollywood history and family lore. What began as one of the most sensational celebrity scandals of its era eventually became something Reynolds could revisit with humor, showing how even the most painful chapters can change meaning over time.
