Review: My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie by Todd Fisher

My Girls: A Lifetime With Carrie and Debbie
by Todd Fisher [Biography Fisher]

Most people know the names Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Their brother/son, Todd, is not so well known but is just as essential to the story of their lives. What may also be not as well known is that the Reynolds-Fisher family were definitely not always rich even though they were absolutely famous. In this loving biography of these two extraordinary women, Todd pays tribute to their struggles and their indomitable spirits. Not to be outdone, he includes the escapades and relationships he’s had himself, and the range of film and recording industry expertise he’s gained throughout his life. Todd’s and Carrie’s father, and Reynolds’ first spouse, singer/actor Eddie Fisher is about as ne’er-do-well a character as you can find — until you meet Debbie’s other husbands! And then there’s Carrie’s lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder and drug abuse coupled with her own romantic disappointments. From an “only in Hollywood” childhood to managing his mother’s short-lived Las Vegas hotel-casino-museum to having to cope with his sister’s and mother’s concurrent deaths, Fisher has worn many hats as only one of two stable male members of their little nuclear family. Debbie’s older brother, Bill, always near by over the years, outlived her but had his own health scare less than a week after her death. Through all the turmoil and triumph of their lives, Todd remained very close with his mother and his sister, always ready to defend them and to accept them as they were, always the one true ‘man of the house” even at a young age. And now he and his wife, his Uncle Bill, and Carrie’s daughter, Billie, are all who are left of the Reynolds clan from Texas. While being emotionally charged, the book is also pragmatic in its assessment of fame and fortune, and how fickle those can be. And, in the end, it is borne out that a loving family can make it through seemingly insurmountable odds and heartaches if they stick together, have faith, and never say “Can’t.”

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Unsinkable, A Memoir, and Debbie : My Life, by Debbie Reynolds, or Wishful Drinking and Postcards From the Edge by Carrie Fisher]

[ publisher’s official My Girls web page ] | [ official Todd Fisher web site ]

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

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