Billie Lourd Unearths Heartfelt Photo With Late Mom Carrie Fisher as ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ Premieres

American Horror Story star Billie Lourd, the daughter of the late Carrie Fisher, paid tribute to her mother on Instagrarm Monday, just as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters. The new movie features Fisher thanks to unused footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and sees Lourd reprising her role as Lieutenant Connix. The Rise of Skywalker grossed $176 million this weekend.

Lourd shared a photo of herself hugging Fisher at the 2015 Force Awakens premiere. She included two star and heart emojis in the caption.

Since the actress shared the post, thousands of fans have flooded the post’s comment section to share how much Fisher meant to them.

“She’s always with us, Billie,” one fan wrote. “I have my ticket for Thursday night, and also my Kleenex.”

“I miss her so much,” another fan wrote.

“This picture is so adorable,” another wrote. “I’ll always miss her. She was my idol growing up. May the Force be with you.”

Lourd was noticeably missing from Monday’s Rise of Skywalker world premiere in Hollywood. Her uncle, Todd Fisher, told The New York Post he understood how difficult it would be for her to see her mother on the big screen.

“I think it’s important that she does what’s best for her,” Todd told the The Post. “What good is it for her to come here and fall apart in a crowd of people? Why would you subject yourself to that?”

Another reason for her missing the event could have been that she was out of the country. Lourd’s Instagram page shows that she has been traveling through Asia in recent weeks. In fact, on Sunday, she shared a photo from Naila Fort Palace in Jaipur, India.

Fisher died in December 2016 after suffering a heart attack on a plane ride from London to Los Angeles. Just days later, Lourd’s grandmother, fellow actress Debbie Reynolds, died after suffering a stroke.

Lourd, 27, has established herself as a star thanks to her roles in Scream Queens and American Horror Story. She also starred in Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart earlier this year. Her father is Creative Arts Agency director Bryan Lourd.

“I’ve always kind of lived in their shadows, and now is the first time in my life when I get to own my life and stand on my own,” Lourd told Sarah Paulson in a 2017 interview for Town & Country. “I love being my mother’s daughter, and it’s something I always will be, but now I get to be just Billie… It’s a lot of pressure, because she had such an incredible legacy, and now I have to uphold that and make it evolve in my own way.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the final movie in the nine-episode Skywalker saga and opened on Thursday night. The film grossed an estimated $176 million domestically and $374 million globally, reports Variety. Although it was the third-biggest December opening ever, it fell short of the debuts of The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), which also opened in December.

Photo credit: Barry King/WireImage/Getty Images