As everyone was enjoying their Christmas gifts and celebrating the end of another year, tragedy swept through the air, giving the world one last bit of terrible news before 2017. On December 27, just four days after going into cardiac arrest, the beloved Carrie Fisher passed away. To make matters more heartbreaking, eighty-four year old Debbie Reynolds died just one day following her daughter’s death. As mother and daughter meet again, many begin to remember the good memories with Fisher and Reynolds and what they both attributed to the world during their lifetime.

 Coming to fame in the 1950’s, actress, singer, and businesswomen Debbie Reynolds had a lot to give. After being cast in the film Three Little Words, Reynolds found her breakthrough role as Kathy Selden in the musical Singin’ in the Rain. Reynolds continued to pursue her acting and singing career for the next dozens of years of her life. Having starred in numerous movies during the 60’s, Reynolds created her own show, The Debbie Reynolds Show, in ‘67. The actress also portrayed Grandma Aggie in the Halloweentown movies. Debbie Reynolds also set aside time to be an author. She published her first autobiography titled, Debbie: My Life; in 2013 an updated version, Unsinkable: A Memoir, was published.

Reynolds was also a powerful businesswoman, owning her own hotel in Las Vegas. Reynolds continued on to serve as President of The Thalians, a mental health organization. In recognition of her many talents and contributions, Debbie Reynolds received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and Academy Awards Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Following in her mother’s footsteps, Carrie Fisher is known most famously for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars trilogy. Being one of the first female protagonists at the time, young women looked up to Princess Leia. In continuation of her acting career, Fisher also starred in the movies Shampoo and The Blues Brothers. However, her talents did not stop there. Fisher wrote 3 autobiographies during her life: Postcards From the Edge, Wishful Drinking, and The Princess Diarist. Fisher’s writing won her the Women of Vision Award in 2005 and the President’s Award back in 1990. Her memoir and autobiography, Wishful Drinking, was also turned into an HBO Documentary, along with Postcards from the Edge, which was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep. This past year, as if the timing could not have been more perfect, both Debbie and Carrie starred in the documentary Bright Lights.

 Like Reynolds, Carrie Fisher was loved both inside and outside of Hollywood. Diagnosed in 1985 with Bipolar Depression, Fisher became an advocate for mental health awareness, in which she opened up about in many of her writings. The young star was also battling drug addiction; Fisher started smoking marijuana at age thirteen, and eventually took on harder drugs: cocaine and LSD.  

 As millions feel the loss of Carrie and Debbie, it cannot compare to the ache that Scream Queens actress Billie Lourd feels, who is the daughter and granddaughter of the two.

Unfortunately, Carrie and Debbie were not the only souls 2016 have taken from this world. In mid-January, Alan Rickman, who portrayed Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, died of cancer. Following his death came those of Muhammad Ali, Prince, David Bowie, and George Michael. Notable celebrity deaths touch everyone deep in the heart, friends, family, or not. Junior Megan Lochen has her own feelings toward this year’s passings: “Although I never personally knew people like Carrie or Alan, their deaths shocked me. They were my childhood, and it’s so sad to see them leave this world.” Many others feel the loss and sympathy of such celebrities. Despite living in the stressful world of Hollywood, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, and many more left a remarkable impact on the world that will last a lifetime.