William Shatner and Bette Midler lead tributes to Debbie Reynolds

William Shatner, Dwayne Johnson and Bette Midler led the tributes to Debbie Reynolds following the actress’ tragic death just 30 hours after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away.
The 84-year-old Singin’ in the Rain star was hospitalised on Wednesday (28Dec16) after suffering a stroke at her son Todd Fisher’s home. She was reportedly organising her daughter’s funeral when she fell ill, with her last words to Todd being “I want to be with Carrie” before she died.
Stars of stage and screen flocked to social media to pay their respects, with Star Trek actor William commenting on just how many famous faces have been lost in 2016.
“Debbie Reynolds was one of the last of Hollywood Royalty,” he wrote. “It breaks my heart that she is gone. I’d hoped that my grieving was done for 2016.”
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson added: “So blown away and saddened by this Debbie Reynolds news a day after her daughter, Carrie passes away. So much luv (sic) & strength to their family.”
And Bette Midler tweeted: “#DebbieReynolds has just died. This is too hard to comprehend. Beautiful, talented, devoted to her craft, she follows Carrie, dead days ago.”
The cast of hit U.S. TV show Will & Grace also took to their social media pages to comment on Debbie’s death, as the actress played Debra Messing’s character Grace’s mother in 10 episodes of the programme.
Debra wrote: “So heartsick. Debbie went to be with Carrie. It’s such a devastating 1,2 punch. She was my ‘mom’ for years & I loved her dearly. A legend.”
Eric McCormack, who played Will in the show, added, “The combination of the loss of @carrieffisher & then her mom @DebbieReynolds1 is too much. I’m really at a loss here… #toomuch16,” while Sean Hayes, who starred as Jack in the series, tweeted: “It is beyond astonishing that both @carrieffisher & @DebbieReynolds1 have left this earth. I overwhelmingly adored & admired them both.”
Albert Brooks also starred alongside Debbie as his on-screen mother in 1996 movie Mother, and tweeted: “Debbie Reynolds, a legend and my movie mom. I can’t believe this happened one day after Carrie. My heart goes out to Billie.”
He wasn’t the only star to reference Billie Lourd – the daughter of Carrie and granddaughter of Debbie. Ariana Grande, who formerly starred with Billie in U.S. show Scream Queens tweeted: “i love you billie. so so much. rest in peace, debbie reynolds.”