Billie Lourd ‘Ran Out of the Room’ the First Time She Saw Mom Carrie Fisher in Star Wars

The Force wasn’t always strong in Carrie Fisher’s young Padawan.

When the actress, who died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack, first introduced daughter Billie Lourd to Star Wars, the little girl ran out of the room faster than you can say Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“My mom made me watch Star Wars for the first time when I was about 7 years old,” Lourd, 24, once told PEOPLE. “When I was younger, I hated action movies and pretty much anything loud. So when she put it on I covered my ears and ran out of the room.”

Carrie Fisher (L) and Billie LourdTodd Williamson/Getty

At first, the sound of John Williams’ booming score and the whizzing of lightsabers was too much for Lourd’s “little ears.” But about a year later, when “my little ears and I were a little more mature,” she asked her mom to put it on again.

“This time, I was completely enthralled and didn’t stop asking her questions the entire time,” she remembered. “For the next year or two, I made her watch it at least once a week — and on special occasions I would make her get in a light saber fight with me. Let’s just say the more trained Jedi usually won.”

Years later, Lourd got the chance to play a real Star Wars character alongside her mom when she made an appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In the scene, Lourd’s double bun hairdo is an homage to her mom’s iconic look.

Billie Lourd in Star Wars: Force AwakensLUCASFILM 2015

While Lourd said that seeing the film “didn’t necessarily change my life,” she did admit it had a “significant” impact on her.

“When I saw the movie for the first time, I noticed my mom was not only equally as confident and strong as the men, she was one of the most confident characters in the entire film,” she explained. “It made me realize women are just as powerful as men and that we can truly do anything they can (if not more!).”