Singer-songwriter Paul Simon, known for both his solo work and his work for music group Simon & Garfunkel, recently opened up about his marriage to the late Carrie Fisher.
The 82-year-old was married to Carrie from 1983 to 1984, and has reminisced on his time with her as well as alluded to the reason for their separation.
Featuring interviews from many years ago, Paul Simon’s new documentary series In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon takes a look back at Paul’s incredible career which has spanned six decades.
But while the singer has experienced many highs over the course of his career, including winning 16 GRAMMY awards, he has also experienced hardships including his separation from Carrie after less than a year of marriage.
In In Restless Dreams, Paul discussed their whirlwind romance. The Mrs. Robinson singer and Star Wars actress first met and began dating in 1977 before tying the knot in 1983, but their marriage was short-lived and they divorced less than a year later.
Paul spoke about their wedding in the docuseries, saying the pair got married “in the middle of” his reunion tour with Art Garfunkel. “I got married. I married Carrie Fisher.”
The singer went on to address his and Carrie’s personality differences which may have contributed to their divorce.
Paul admitted the actress was better equipped to deal with fame than he was, revealing “Carrie was much more show business-oriented” than him.
“I went along with that – that’s the world that she grew up with; she was used to it.
“She was used to a lot of press and things like that. It wasn’t intimidating or anything. She knew how to manipulate it and make it work for her. She was really good at it, and I wasn’t.”
Paul’s best man at his wedding, Lorne Michaels, also appeared in the documentary where he unveiled details about the pair’s wedding celebrations.
“For the engagement, we went to Greece. Paul chartered a boat. […] It was a really fun time, and for the honeymoon, we went up to Egypt, went up the Nile,” Lorne said.
“There were lots of things that were remarkable about the time, but also it was two people at career peaks, and that’s always complicated. All of it was kind of a whirlwind. Carrie was in a complete fame bubble because of Star Wars.”
Paul went on to confess that he was “exhausted” by the time he and Carrie made the decision to separate.
“I mean, what was I thinking? Certainly not thinking about life, you know, that you actually like have to stop,” he said.
“Marriage is very… it’s a hard thing to do. You have to concentrate on — not everything can happen at once, not everything is a media event. All types of mistakes on top of mistakes on top of mistakes.
“I realised … I could exhaust myself from emotional upheaval.”
Despite going their separate ways, Paul expressed his sincerest condolences following the tragic death of Carrie in 2016.
“Yesterday was a horrible day. Carrie was a special, wonderful girl. It’s too soon,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Following their divorce in 1984, both Paul and Carrie moved on with different partners.
The singer married Edie Brickwell in 1992 and the pair welcomed three children together: Adrian Edward, 31, Lulu, 29, and Gabriel Elijah, 25.
Meanwhile, Carrie was in a relationship with talent agent Bryan Lourd and the couple had one daughter, actress Billie Lourd, 31.
Stream In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon on Apple TV+ from $12.99/mth, with a 7-day free trial.
