Tomorrow, Dec. 27, will mark the one year anniversary of the death of Carrie Fisher. For many of us, she was more than just the actress who brought Princess Leia to life. She was an inspiration, an advocate, a writer, a feminist, and a survivor. Her death impacted not just the millions of Star Wars fans, but also millions of people who have suffered from mental illness, or tackled addiction in their lives.
As a writer
Carrie had written seven books, one of which became a feature film, and another a one-woman stage show. Most of them are autobiographical, but they're all hilarious and real. In them, she was very open about what life was like as a member of a prominent Hollywood family, living with a drug/alcohol addiction, and her problems with having bipolar disorder. In "The Princess Diarist," she gave us glimpses into the shenanigans behind the scenes of this weird, obscure space movie, which included an affair with costar Harrison Ford.
She also acted as a "script doctor": doing uncredited work re-writing, editing, or co-writing the screenplays of some of your favorite films, such as "Hook," "The Wedding Singer," the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, and even, a bit recently, on "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." She became known as "one of the most sought after doctors in town," according to Entertainment Weekly. Carrie eventually stopped doing it, as she essentially called it "free work" and "life wasting."
As an inspiration
Carrie was extremely outspoken about her past addictions to drugs and alcohol, and how she suffered from bipolar disorder. This helped to lower the stigma around the condition, and inspired other people who also lived with it, or with any mental disorder, to talk about it and seek their own treatments. She gave advice to those afraid to pursue their dreams because of their conditions. "Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action," she once said to the Herald-Tribune. "You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow."
She was considered by some to the "poster child" of being bipolar, to which she smoothly responded, "Well, I am hoping to get the centerfold in Psychology Today."
Fisher had also tackled substance abuse in the past. She had had multiple overdoses of cocaine, LSD, and heroin, and once linked her mental health to her addictions. "I used to think I was a drug addict, pure and simple," she said in an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2000. "Just someone who could not stop taking drugs willfully. And I was that. But it turns out that I am manic depressive."
Her fans always viewed her as more than just Leia.
"She was totally unafraid to say what she wanted to say," said Bonnie, a fan from Hong Kong. "She wasn't ashamed of anything about herself."
"[Carrie] taught me being mentally ill wasn't something I should be ashamed of," said Alwine, from France. "If I could turn the bad into something funny, then I could get through anything."
Her general awesomeness
Carrie had an adorable French bulldog named Gary. He acted as her therapy dog, and became a very familiar face to any die-hard, or casual, fan of Carrie. He accompanied her at every appearance, interview, screening, red carpet, and outing. She once said of him, "[Gary] really likeslooking at himself. Wouldn't you if you looked like that?" He made quick friends with the whole cast of "The Force Awakens," and even had a cameo in "The Last Jedi." Gary was at her side when she died.
Recently, he went to the see "The Last Jedi" and supposedly perked up when his mom appeared on screen. Make us cry even more, Gary.
Also, he has his own Instagram. And it's amazing.
Fisher was also a big supporter of the feminist movement. She allegedly sent a cow tongue to a movie producer who sexually assaulted a friend of hers, she once said she "doesn't think of men as people" (same, Carrie), she consistently derided the "slave bikini" that she was forced to wear in "Return of the Jedi", and pointed out that society thinks that women are not allowed to age, especially in a vicious industry like Hollywood. Princess Leia was also known as a groundbreaking character, a woman with amazing power and confidence who got stuff done in a movie dominated by men, both on-screen and behind the scenes.
She was a master of codes and baffled her 1 million+ followers on Twitter everyday with epic, hard to decipher tweets written in emoji. It sort of became a game among her fans to figure out what she was saying.
I have no idea what this says, but whatever it is, I agree.
Even her legible tweets had some great messages that will be quoted for all eternity.
The number of cares that she had was clearly zero. Or only three.
Carrie, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, and daughter, Billie Lourd, were inseparable. Lourd called them "goddesses," and said that losing both her mother and grandmother within a day of each other was "surreal." She recounted what life was like living with Fisher, like how they would put Christmas lights in palm trees at 2 a.m.
Fisher had a string of A-List friends, from Meryl Streep to Mark Hamill to Dan Aykroyd. She touched so many lives and inspired or captivated anyone she'd ever met. Aykroyd called her "one of the most brilliant and hilarious minds of our eon." She truly was.
Hamill wrote an emotional tribute to his "space twin" after her death, and recently revealed that they "made out like teenagers" while filming the first Star Wars movie.
At the Star Wars Celebration this past April, he talked about how he imagines what she's doing now. "She's looking down from the celestial stratosphere," he said. "With those big brown eyes and that sly smile on her face, as she lovingly extends me the middle finger." This was apparently her favorite gesture.
Even in death, she is making us laugh. Her ashes were put into a Prozac pill urn, which had apparently been a prized possession of hers for many years, according to her brother, Todd.
Carrie Fisher's life had been full of both ups and downs, but she powered through like the trooper she was. She faced those hardships head on and came out on the other side, stronger than ever. She inspired us to not give up, to laugh, and she showed us that we can overcome anything, and still kick ass. With our middle fingers high in the air.
Happy anniversary in heaven, space mom. The world misses you.
"...I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra." -Carrie Fisher