On December 27, 2016 Carrie Fisher, whom played Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, died. The news of her death has left fans heartbroken. Carrie was not only an amazing and talented actress, but she was also an advocate for mental health and for women's rights.

Fisher openly battled bipolar disorder. In which one of her more known quotes reads: "I'm fine, but I'm bipolar. I'm on seven different medications, and I take medication three times a day. This constantly puts me in touch with the illness I have. I'm never quite allowed to be free of that for a day. It's like being diabetic." She fought for people to understand not only that it was okay if you had the illness, but that mental health is like any other physical illness.

Princess Leia was most certainly the first badass princess to hit the big screen. I still dream of having the courage that she displays throughout the movies, and I don't believe any princess will again come close to having the amount of sass and courage that Leia did. But her reaction to people freaking over the bikini scene, still makes me laugh.

"What am I supposed to tell my kid about why she's in that outfit?" Someone asked. "Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him," was Fisher's fabulous response.

When The Force Awakens came out last December I was super excited. Growing up I had watched all of the Star Wars movies more time than I could have ever counted since they were on TV all the time. I fell in love with the soundtracks, and couldn't wait to see the new movie. And when I had, was I ever so excited. To see Han Solo and Princess Leia together again was simply amazing. And to me, Carrie looked amazing. But not many people thought so.

Her response, sass filled and all, was this, "Youth and Beauty are not accomplishments." While I know that many disagree with her statement, as young woman who has struggled with body image issues this meant more to me than I could ever say. Carrie didn't care about what people thought of her. And, more to the point, nor should we care about what others think of us.

Today we mourn the loss of a legendary woman. Not only an amazing actress, but a person who told it like it is and didn't take anything from anyone. Carrie Fisher will be missed dearly, but she is now guarding our galaxy from the great beyond.