The 60-year old actress appeared on The Graham Norton Show last December, but died in hospital two weeks later, after reportedly suffering a massive heart attack on the transatlantic flight back to the US.
Norton said Fisher wanted to cancel her appearance on his famous red couch, but decided to go ahead, because she didn’t want to let him down.
“Carrie didn’t seem well the night she was on my show. She didn’t want to come on,” said Norton.
“She said ‘I feel terrible and if it was anyone else, I’d cancel’. But she perked up a bit after eating,” he added.
“When I heard, later, that she’d had a heart attack, that was less surprising to me. She wasn’t a well woman, but then for her to die! I still haven’t quite figured it out. It still hasn’t sunk in,” he told the latest edition of
.Norton has previously said that he rarely becomes friends with his celebrity guests, but “bright and funny” Carrie Fisher was one of the notable exceptions.
The pair were close pals for some years and the Hollywood star even came as his ‘plus one’ to the wedding of Liza Minnelli to David Gest, in 2002.
He also told the magazine that he has no regrets about past romances and he rejects any suggestion that his demanding career has prevented him from finding lasting love.
“I can’t think of anyone in my life where I think, ‘Oh, if only I didn’t have this stupid career, I could still be happily ever after with that person’. I’m pretty much happily ever after with my own life now, rather than pining after the one that got away,” he said.