Debbie Reynolds “Willed Herself” to Die After Daughter Carrie Fisher’s Death, Son Todd Fisher Says

This is heartbreaking. In his new book, My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie, Todd Fisher revealed his late mother, Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds, “willed herself” to die one day after her daughter (and Todd’s sister), Carrie Fisher, passed away on Dec. 27, 2016, after suffering a heart attack.

“The common theory about Mom’s passing was that, after losing Carrie, Debbie Reynolds died of a broken heart. Take it from the son who was there, who knew her better than anyone else on earth — that’s simply not true. Debbie Reynolds willed herself right off this planet to personally see to it that Carrie would never be alone,” Todd, 60, wrote in an excerpt obtained by USA Today.

“That had been her driving force all of Carrie’s life, including having me so that Carrie wouldn’t be an only child, and it continued to be her driving force when Carrie left,” Todd continued. The famed director also wrote that Debbie came “completely undone” when she heard Carrie’s body has been taken to the coroner’s office following her passing at age 60.

“[The idea of Carrie] being alone [and dissected by] some stranger was abhorrent to Mom,” Todd explained. Debbie’s only son also wrote that he and his mother — who died of a stroke on Dec. 28, 2016 — shared a blissful relationship throughout the late star’s 84 years. “My mom was fun and funny and playful and smart and beautiful. It was one of the core facts of my life that she and I adored each other, that we’d had a rare connection from the moment I started growing in her belly,” he penned.

“No one worked harder, tried harder, and loved harder than she did. She deserved all the happiness, joy, and security in this world; but she kept getting deceived and robbed blind by men she cared for so much, deeply trusted, and treated with nothing but kindness and respect until the truth of who they really were became unavoidable,” Todd wrote of Debbie’s three ill-fated Hollywood marriages.