James Blunt shared details about Carrie Fisher’s last days during his appearance at the 2024 Hay Festival. He revealed:
“I just knew that the day before she died, when she came back to my house and she’d been really mistreating her body and she’d just got the job again of being Princess Leia in the new ‘Star Wars’ movies.”
Fisher died in 2016 on a flight from London to Los Angeles due to a heart attack. An autopsy found cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, alcohol, and opiates in her system.
Blunt pointed out the actress’ concerns about being thin enough for the ‘Star Wars’ sequels as the reason behind her drug use:
“She had to really put a lot of pressure on herself and started abusing drugs again. So, by the time she got on the plane, she had practically killed herself. They said it was a heart failure, but she had taken enough drugs to have a great party.”
The Two Were Long-Time Friends
James Blunt befriended Carrie Fisher way before he rose to fame. Fisher let the singer stay at her LA home while he was recording his first album, ‘Back to Bedlam,’ in 2004.
Blunt returned to that house after the actress’ death, and his visit inspired the 2023 song ‘Dark Thought.’ He shared with NME last November:
“It must be about seven years since she died, I’m not entirely sure, but it’s taken me all of that time to write a song for her. As a songwriter, the most honest song is normally the easiest to write because it just flows out of you. But I’ve been overthinking this song for so many years because she’s just such an incredible human being.”
The singer added:
“And so, what I did with the at song is I just described the moment I went back looking for her after her death. I went back to her house on a whim, drove up to her gate, and put my hand on it just to feel a little bit of her there. And I wrote the at song about that moment.”
You can check out the tribute song below.
