Copyright Parade
Actress Joely Fisher shared a new home video of the late Diane Ladd from an intimate dinner with friends and family on Nov. 7, and fans are touched by the icon’s poignant speech about life. The clip, posted just four days after her death, also features Fisher’s mother and Ladd’s best friend, ’60s popstar Connie Stevens, and Ladd’s daughter, Laura Dern, sharing a bottle of wine around the dinner table. The National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation actress, who died at 89 on Nov. 3, admitted she caught herself “thinking that I haven’t accomplished anything, or that I’m nothing spiritually,” adding that she sometimes felt “little and pitiful,” mentally punishing herself for “making mistakes” or “wast[ing] [herself] on some people.” “Then, on the other hand, I think… Don’t forget the things you’ve done and people you’ve affected,” she continued as her friends and family listened intently. “From the time you were 16, you went and danced with soldiers who were in trauma… You went out on your own.” She admitted it was “hard” to be getting “tired” and “disillusioned” at her older age when she and Stevens previously “accomplished a lot and it wasn’t so hard.” “We were pretty and we had a lot of energy and we just, when they knocked us down and rolled over us, we moved forward,” she said. “And now we don’t have that energy.” However, at the time of the video, in which she was 82 years old and can be seen with a medical device beside her, she was “looking at life” and feeling much more thankful for “the love for my friends and the appreciation for people.” She reflected on her impressive career, adding, “It was a path I was on and I stood out… One day, when we get closer to the end, we say, ‘I’m a lucky duck,'” she added. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Fisher, who shared the moving video, reflected on her special relationship with her “other mother,” Ladd, following her death, calling her “a spiritual gangster who spit pearls and promise.” Fisher remembered Ladd’s improvised Christmas raps, “sparring over politics” and the entertainment industry, and Ladd acting as the officiant for her 10th wedding anniversary vow renewal.
