At one point, the pair didn't speak for 10 years.
Debbie Reynolds and daughter Carrie Fisher had a famously turbulent relationship, but looked to be especially close when tragedy struck this week.
They didn't speak for 10 years and Fisher even wrote about their bond in her debut semi-autobiographical novel Postcards from the Edge in 1987, which was made into a movie three years later with Meryl Streep in the Fisher role and Shirley MacLaine as the Reynolds figure.
The Star Wars actress’ father was singer Eddie Fisher, and as a result of having two famous parents, Carrie grew up in the limelight.
In 1983, around the time of the release of Return of the Jedi, Fisher told Rolling Stone: “There's a whole lot of freight that goes with being movie stars' kids – on the cover of Life when you're two minutes old.
"I remember the press diving through trees to get pictures of me, my brother and my mother. Poor Debbie; that bastard Eddie; and Liz. We've been public domain all our lives. I was trained in celebrity, so I did the only thing I knew. I went into the family business."
In 2011, during a joint interview with her daughter with Oprah, Reynolds openly discussed her child’s bi-polar disorder, one of the catalysts for their troubled relationship.
“My lowest point in Carrie and my relationship was probably when we discovered that she was ill, or that she had this mental health problem, and that it was going to be with her forever," Reynolds said. “That was very hard. How is she going to get along in life? How can I help her in life? All I could do is love her, and always shall."
The duo was estranged for a decade when Fisher was in her 20s and 30s, which was also the period of her drug and alcohol abuse.
They finally reconciled and became nearly inseparable since.
In 2011, they performed a rare duet during their Oprah interview and last year appeared together on the red carpet at the SAG Awards.
Read: The Year of Loss: Carrie Fisher's Death Is Latest in a Long Line of Fallen Celebs
In an interview with NPR in November, Fisher said of her mom: “She’s an immensely powerful woman, and I just admire my mother very much. She also annoys me sometimes when she’s mad at the nurses, but she’s an extraordinary woman.
"There’s very few women from her generation who worked like that, who just kept a career going all her life, and raised children, and had horrible relationships, and lost all her money, and got it back again. I mean, she’s had an amazing life, and she’s someone to admire."
Fisher passed away Tuesday at age 60 after suffering a heart attack, her mother died a day later at 84, reportedly due to a stroke.
Watch: Friends and Family Pay Tribute to Carrie Fisher After Her Death
