Todd Fisher: Mom's Death Was 'Kind of Magical'

Todd Fisher says his mother, Debbie Reynolds, set him up "for her leaving the planet" the day his sister and Reynolds' daughter, Carrie Fisher, died in December, the AP reports. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Fisher says that after telling him she knew how hard it was for him to have lost his sister, Reynolds added, "It might be tougher even, you know … I don't know for sure when I [will] go." She also started talking about her estate and her wishes for a memorial service, "and [she] even [went through] last-minute changes due to the fact that Carrie left first, as far as the memorial service." It was like she was "asking my permission" to go, he says.

The 84-year-old Reynolds suffered a stroke and died one day after her 60-year-old daughter died following a heart attack. Todd Fisher tells ET, "She literally looked at me and said, 'I want to go be with Carrie' and closed her eyes and went to sleep." He adds that, though it's hard, it's also "kind of a magical, beautiful thing." Fisher says he's "really OK" with his mother's death, but "not so OK" with his sister's. He says the revival of the Star Wars films and Fisher's role as Princess Leia meant she was in the middle of what he thought to be "her finest hours." Fisher and Reynolds will be remembered Saturday at a Hollywood memorial service that will be live-streamed here. (More Debbie Reynolds stories.)