James Blunt says studio pressure to be thin for Disney Star Wars spin-offs led to close friend Carrie Fisher’s drug relapse and death at the age of 60

By William On May 28, 2024

James Blunt has revealed that Carrie Fisher felt so pressured by Star Wars bosses to be thin at the age of 60 that it pushed her to use drugs again, which ultimately led to her death.

The You’re Beautiful hitmaker was close friends with Fisher, famous for playing Princess Leia in the franchise, and lived in her LA home in the 2000s when he was recording his debut album.

Blunt, 50, told an audience at the Hay Literature Festival: ‘I knew the day before she died when she came back to my house and she had really abused her body and she had just gotten the job of being a princess again. Leia in the new Star Wars films.

“So she’s really at a high and positive level, but they’ve put a lot of pressure on her to be skinny, and that’s what they do, so she talked about the difficulties that women have in the industry that men are allowed to grow old and women are not.

‘She really had to put pressure on herself and started using drugs again.

James Blunt has revealed that Carrie Fisher felt so pressured by Star Wars bosses to be thin at the age of 60 that it pushed her to use drugs again, which ultimately led to her death.

“So by the time she got on the plane, she had practically killed herself. They said it was heart failure, but she was on enough meds to make it a great party.”

Fisher died in 2016 when an autopsy revealed a cocktail of drugs, including cocaine, meth, ecstasy, alcohol and opiates, found in her system, causing cardiac arrest during a flight from London to Los Angeles.

Speaking about the bizarre trappings of fame, Blunt claimed he was once threatened by the Pussycat Dolls’ boss at Interscope Records to stop sleeping with members of the girl band.

The Wisemen singer said: “I was a normal person who ended up in this bizarre scenario because I was in the music business and along the way some amazing things happened to me.

“Jimmy Iovine, head of a record label, sent a big man to tell me he’s going to kill me if I sleep with a Pussycat Doll again.

“I was just having a normal conversation with Robbie Williams on one side and Shakira on the other and then I turned to him and said, ‘Tell Jimmy to tell her not to fuck me, then you don’t have to not to do that anymore. kill me.”

The actress played the role of Princess Leia in the epic film series for several years (pictured in 1980)

James counted Hollywood star Carrie (center) among his close friends

Fisher (pictured on the set of Star Wars in 1977) died in 2016, with an autopsy revealing a cocktail of drugs including cocaine, meth, ecstasy, alcohol and opiates found in her system that caused cardiac arrest during a flight from London to Los Angeles

Carrie (pictured in 2014) was the daughter of fellow Hollywood star Debbie Reynolds, who died just a few days later

James Blunt is now married to aristocrat Sophia Wellesley, the granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington, and the couple have two young sons, along with Ed Sheeran, the eldest’s godfather (pictured in 2022)

Blunt is said to have spent the night with former Pussycat Doll, Jessica Sutta, 42, in 2006.

In 2014, he married his wife, aristocrat Sophia Wellesley, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington, and the couple share two young sons with Ed Sheeran, the eldest’s godfather.

He said: ‘Fame is like a drug and I’m at this glorious point in my life where it’s fading, that album and that song was so long ago that I’m back to normality. This mushroom journey of fame.”

The British singer, who now lives in Ibiza, revealed: ‘I’m from Norfolk and we’re all related. I’m not even kidding, my grandparents are cousins - I’m absolutely serious.

‘Everything I write about my family is completely true. “I toned down a few things, I wanted to call my mom butch and she didn’t like that, so I called her Amazon because she’s big and tough.”