As well as Carrie and Todd, Hamlett has three more stepchildren - Tom Parker, Mary Parker Wilson, and Mollie Parker - via his marriage with Jane. Reynolds was a longtime ally of the LGBT community and an early advocate for AIDS. [69] In 1983, Reynolds performed at an AIDS fundraiser with her friend Shirley MacLaine. [70] In a 2014 interview with The Telegraph, Reynolds revealed that she had helped several closeted actors conceal their homosexuality by dating them. [71] When asked when she realised she was a gay icon, Reynolds replied, "Over the years many of the boys that have worked for me as dancers have been gay. The creative people were all gay people, from producers to writers. To me, they were just family." [72] Marriages and later life [ edit ] Reynolds and Eddie Fisher on their wedding day, 1955 Still relatively unknown, her standout performance in Two Weeks with Love produced a huge hit. This impressed the studio so much, they handed her the role of a lifetime.

Riggs, Thomas, ed. (2000). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Vol.31. Gale. ISBN 978-0787646363 . Retrieved December 29, 2016– via Google Books. Reynolds was married three times. Her first marriage was to singer Eddie Fisher in 1955. [73] They became the parents of Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. The couple divorced in 1959 when it was revealed shortly after the death of Elizabeth Taylor's husband Mike Todd that Fisher had been having an affair with her; Taylor and Reynolds were good friends at the time. The Eddie Fisher–Elizabeth Taylor affair was a great public scandal, which led to the cancellation of Eddie Fisher's television show. [74]Reynolds was also a French horn player. Gene Kelly, reflecting on Reynolds's sudden fame, recalled, "There were times when Debbie was more interested in playing the French horn somewhere in the San Fernando Valley or attending a Girl Scout meeting....She didn't realize she was a movie star all of a sudden." [45] Stage work [ edit ] Reynolds prior to performing a show in Las Vegas in 1975 a b Loynd, Ray (May 8, 1989). "Stage Review: 'Molly Brown' Is Unsinkable 25 Years After the Movie". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 28, 2016. During this scary conversation, Reynolds said that Hamlett insisted they talk on the balcony of their room, which was on the 12th floor. In 2000, Reynolds took up a recurring voice role on the children's television program Rugrats, playing the grandmother of two of the characters. In 2001, she co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, and Joan Collins in the comedy These Old Broads, a television movie written for her by her daughter, Carrie Fisher. [35] She had a cameo role as herself in the 2004 film Connie and Carla. In 2013, she appeared in Behind the Candelabra, as the mother of Liberace. [36] a b c "Hollywood & Broadway Star Debbie Reynolds Dead at 84, One Day After Daughter Carrie Fisher", Broadway.com, December 28, 2016

They were married in 1984. She provided him with limitless financial support for his real estate investments. It was subsequently in the possession of the Athertons, and has descended, in the same manner as Great Lewis, Hilary (January 25, 2015). "SAG Awards: Debbie Reynolds Accepts Life Achievement Honor". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 29, 2016. Her daughter, who wrote the preface to her mother’s memoir, writes in an equally effusive manner: “Always, she is who she is: a good person, a kind person — which would be a fine thing if these were qualities consistently rewarded. But as most of us know, they are not.” In the "happy" family's home movies, nothing seemed to be amiss, with both Reynolds and Fisher balancing their busy careers and time with their adorable babies. But this was only the calm before the storm.

6. She Refused To Give It Up

Carrie, who lives next door to her mom in Los Angeles with her own daughter Billie, endorses the book as “extraordinary anecdotes from an extraordinary woman.” While filming The Tender Trap, Debbie Reynolds' co-star Frank Sinatra gave her some chilling advice. He told her to never get involved with pop stars, including Eddie Fisher. Reynolds, herself, gushed about her 'brave, loyal and loving' husband in her 1988 autobiography, Debbie: My Life.