It’s a pretty well-known fact by now that Carrie Fisher had the ability to out-funny Hollywood’s funniest stars, and her friend and former fiancee Dan Aykroyd was no exception. The actor, who was engaged to Fisher for a brief time after proposing to her on the set of The Blues Brothers, wrote a funny and honest tribute to her for Empire magazine’s latest issue, which contains a 27-page farewell to the actress and icon.

Aykroyd first describes how the two met and fell in love on the sets of two comedy staples:

I met Carrie at Saturday Night Live. She and John Belushi became instant pals. I remember how much she made him laugh. Later, while filming Blues Brothers, Carrie and I fell in love and during the shoot she moved in with me into a penthouse suite in the futuristic, aluminium-clad Astro Tower, which I knew to apologise for. Carrie had the most refined eye for art and design.

He also wrote how they gave each other gifts: he gave her a ring, and she gave him something… else.

While in Chicago we obtained blood tests for compatibility from an East Indian female doctor. Contemplating marriage, I gave Carrie a sapphire ring and subsequently in the romance she gave me a Donald Roller Wilson oil painting of a monkey in a blue dress next to a tiny floating pencil, which I kept for years until it began to frighten my children.

He also said how greatly he admired her and her family and friends, and how instantly he was accepted into her family.

Carrie embraced my friends and I was embraced in warmly human and Hollywood-glamorous emotional comfort, elegance and excitement. Debbie would cook for us and Carrie’s tech-wizard brother Todd would take me on high-intensity cruises in muscle cars and on motorcycles through Beverly Hills with great young people, José Ferrer and Donna Ebsen. These were the wonderfully inspired and smart sons and daughters of world-famous show-business professionals whom Carrie ran with.

He described their last night together in a house at Martha’s Vineyard.

The next morning she asked me to drive her to the airport and she flew to New York. Architectural reservations notwithstanding, Carrie wasn’t shallow, we had a great time. She was also in love with Paul Simon. She married him but I hope she kept my ring.

Carrie Fisher’s death was a crushing blow to fans of sci-fi and comedy alike, as well as those associated with mental health activism. It’s heartening for the rest of us to be able to see how much she was loved by those who knew her, and how much she will be missed by all of us who didn’t.

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