James Blunt — the singer, songwriter and longtime friend of the late Carrie Fisher — says the Star Wars star’s daughter, Billie Lourd, partly blames him for her mother’s death, according to excerpts from Blunt’s memoir, “Loosely Based On A Made.” -Up Story” emerges. published by The Sun.
“I was closer to Carrie than almost anyone in the world except my wife,” Blunt wrote of the couple’s relationship.
Blunt was with Fisher when she was found unresponsive just days before her death in 2017. A toxicology report found she had used cocaine in the days before her death and had heroin, MDMA and methadone in her system. The report declined to state the final cause of death, but Lourd attributed it to her mother’s battle with substance abuse.
“My mother struggled with drug addiction and mental illness her entire life,” Lourd told PEOPLE at the time. “She ultimately died from it. She was intentionally open about the social stigmas associated with these illnesses in all of her work.”
In his memoirs, Blunt described his failure to confront Fisher about her drug abuse, choosing instead to do drugs with her.
“Charlie, her best friend, confronted her more directly and told her she had to quit drugs… I took a different approach and did it with her, imagining that one day I would lead her to redemption – just not today,” Blunt wrote. “As a result, her daughter Billie blames me for her death and no longer speaks to me.”