The Untold Truth Of Star Wars Legend Carrie Fisher
It's hard to imagine that the stars of "Star Wars" had any idea how big it would become when the film first premiered in 1977. But despite the immeasurable fame the actors would achieve, the woman behind Princess Leia would remain one of the most real, down-to-earth humans in Hollywood or anywhere throughout her lifetime. Known for her warmth, charm, and brilliant mind, Carrie Fisher would become an icon for generations of women, proving that a princess could be an action hero both on-screen and off.
Fisher's candor about her struggles with mental health and addiction helped countless others suffering under the stigma. And yet despite all of her challenges, Fisher lived with passion and zeal in a way that few people do. From her wild party days with Dan Aykroyd to her brilliant writing career, there's so much more to the story than space buns and a hologram. Hang onto your lightsaber as we take a look at the untold truth of Carrie Fisher.
Carrie and her famous mom were incredibly close
Long before Carrie Fisher would don her iconic Leia buns, her famous parents were making headlines. In 1954, Fisher's mom Debbie Reynolds landed her first major role as Gene Kelly's chorus girl love interest in "Singin' in the Rain," soon after tying the knot with crooner Eddie Fisher. Kids would soon follow, but Reynolds' rocky marriage to the philandering pop heartthrob would end when he left her for Elizabeth Taylor.
Despite her personal heartache, Reynolds continued to thrive professionally, but life in the limelight wasn't exactly the childhood Carrie dreamed of. As Reynolds told People, Carrie "wanted a mother who baked and did embroidery," instead she got one that walked red carpets and spent long hours working on film productions. Although Reynolds married two more times, she was a single mother for most of Carrie's childhood. Carrie and her mom had a close connection during those early years, even working together at one point.
Although they became estranged as the young adult Carrie struggled to make a name for herself outside of her mother's shadow, their reconciliation would leave them closer than ever, living next door to each other for 15 years. Carrie's death left her mother devastated, with Carrie's brother Todd telling Variety that Reynolds left "to be with Carrie" the next day. The pair were even laid to rest together, with Carrie buried in a giant Prozac pill repurposed as an urn.
She was also very close to her famous daughter
The Reynolds line is full of strong, talented women, with Carrie Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd following her mom and grandmother into show business. An only child, Lourd is Fisher's child with her former partner, talent agent Bryan Lourd. Fisher was heartbroken when the pair parted ways after Bryan realized he was gay, but they would move on to become friends, maintaining a healthy co-parenting relationship that even meant taking family vacations together.
Like her mom, Billie faced unique challenges growing up. While her dad provided a fairly traditional childhood, life with Fisher could be unpredictable to the extreme. Fisher once expressed remorse over the stress Billie experienced as a result of her own mental health struggles, telling the Daily Mail, "How many eight-year-olds have to visit their mum in a mental hospital? I'm not one for regrets, but I do regret anything I did that made life hard for my daughter." But as with her mom and grandmother, Billie seemed to understand Fisher in a way others might not, and she and her own mother shared a profound mutual admiration despite her challenging childhood.
Billie would go on to become quite famous in her own right. Best known for her work on "American Horror Story," Billie says she was originally discouraged from acting by her parents but found she had a knack for it after her mom asked her to read for a small part in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
She was a serious bookworm
A bohemian soul with a passion for art, beauty, and intellectual discourse, Carrie Fisher loved finding herself enveloped in the warm embrace of a good book. Her love for literature dates back to her childhood, with Fisher once telling the Washington Post she was the only reader in her showbiz family, lamenting, "I was called, in an unkind way, a bookworm." She had a passionate love for language and words and a particular admiration for poet Dorothy Parker, recounting to Rolling Stone, "Books were my first drug. They took me away from everything and I would just consume them."
Thanks to a list of favorite reads that Fisher wrote about for The Week in 2015, book lovers looking to connect with the late actor can follow in her literary footsteps. Her list of six book recommendations spans the genres and includes "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, "Naked" by David Sedaris, "Play It as It Lays" by Joan Didion, "My Old Sweetheart" by Susanna Moore, "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie, and "Swann's Way" by Marcel Proust.
She worked prolifically as a Hollywood ghost writer
Carrie Fisher didn't just love reading books — she was also an incredibly gifted writer. Her writing career began after her friend Paul Slansky, a contributor for Esquire, interviewed her for a column. He quickly realized there was enough Carrie gold to put together a book of humorous essays, and the pair began working on her first book. Carrie quickly proved a prolific writer, penning the semi-autobiographical novel "Postcards From the Edge" on stream-of-consciousness audio recordings, and by hand on yellow legal notepads. She would go on to write three more novels and four non-fiction books.
Soon after turning "Postcards" into a screenplay, she began to develop a reputation for her Hollywood rewrites. In 2001, she wrote "These Old Broads," a comedy she would star in with Shirley MacClaine, Joan Collins, Elizabeth Taylor, and her mother Debbie Reynolds. But Carrie's skill as a gifted script doctor was famous in Hollywood. The long list of scripts she worked on includes "Anastasia," "Lethal Weapon 3," "Sister Act," "Last Action Hero," "Hook," and "The Wedding Singer," just to name a few.
She almost starred in Clue
With its hilarious whodunit shenanigans, wacky cast of characters, and three alternate endings, "Clue" is one of the 1980s' most iconic films with a lasting legacy that includes the "Knives Out" film franchise and a "Psych" parody episode starring three actors from the film. But most fans of the black comedy don't know that Lesley Ann Warren's character came exceedingly close to being played by Carrie Fisher.
Before casting Fisher for his film, director Jonathan Lynn had heard rumors that she was struggling with a substance abuse problem. But Fisher managed to keep it together during casting, with Lynn telling Entertainment Weekly, "I didn't really see any sign of it. Not that I would have known." On the contrary, he found her to be perfect for the role of Miss Scarlet, calling her "extremely funny" even if he would later come to recall Fisher's constant sniffling, something she attributed to hay fever.
The week before filming was due to begin, Fisher called him with a surprising update: she had checked herself into rehab but still planned on coming into work, checking herself out every morning to shoot the film. Unfortunately, the studio's insurance company wasn't interested in taking on the risk of mid-rehab Carrie, and the role of Miss Scarlet was recast with Lesley Ann Warren. Warren, a friend of Fisher, would later admit, "I was very sorry that she was not able to do it, but I was excited and jumped in."
If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
She and Tom Hanks had a blast improvising on The 'Burbs
Carrie Fisher finally got a chance to show her witty side in another black comedy — the 1989 film "The 'Burbs," in which she starred alongside Tom Hanks and Corey Feldman. The horror comedy film finds married couple Ray and Carol Peterson becoming increasingly paranoid about their neighbors' activities, convinced they might secretly be serial killers. Although the film bombed in its day, it has picked up a cult following over the past few decades, owing in no small part to the hilarious performances of Hanks and Fisher, who had previously starred together in the 1985 comedy "The Man With One Red Shoe."
Far from the eccentric, artsy brainiac of her real-world persona, "The 'Burbs" found Fisher playing a fairly normal suburban wife and mother. Speaking to L.A. Weekly, director Joe Dante said Fisher and Hanks "clicked amazingly well" on set, with Dante saying that Fisher was a delight to work with. Although the cast was encouraged to improvise, Fisher and Hanks came up with some of the best scenes, with Dante citing the game show and breakfast scenes among those that were improved by their improvisation.
Her parties were legendary
A consummate social butterfly, Carrie Fisher threw parties everyone wanted to be at. While married to Paul Simon, she enjoyed throwing cooking lesson parties at her Laurel Canyon home that were more about wine drinking than preparing food. After moving to Oak Pass, Fisher's home transformed into something of a perma-party, with friends gathering at her place each weekend. The notoriously social Fisher was known for her open-door policy. Recounting a time when Fisher invited her to a party in a Town & Country interview, Sarah Paulson told Billie Lourd, "I basically didn't leave."
But it was Fisher's birthday celebration that folks couldn't wait to attend each year. For decades, she and close friend Penny Marshall would mark their joint birthday celebrations together each October. The event was notoriously laden with A-listers, featuring the likes of Meryl Streep, Angelica Huston, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Barbra Streisand, Nicole Kidman, Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, Timothy Leary, and even David Bowie and Iman. Part of the draw was the menu, which featured Southern fare like meatloaf, mac and cheese, and fried chicken, prepared by Fisher's housekeepers.
She had a brief fling with Harrison Ford
No "Star Wars" fan can deny that Han Solo and Princess Leia make the perfect on-screen couple with their witty back-and-forth and natural rapport. And apparently, that chemistry had a real-world effect on the very young Carrie Fisher and her co-star Harrison Ford — but it's hardly a romantic love story, as Fisher would recount in "The Princess Diarist."
While Fisher was only 19 years old during the filming of "Star Wars: A New Hope," Ford was a married father of two in his mid-30s. Fisher had found herself dangerously over-intoxicated at George Lucas' birthday party and a target of the older crew's harassment when Ford swooped in to help her make an escape. And yet despite her clear intoxication, the two ended up hooking up, kicking off what Fisher would call a "three-month one-night stand" on Today. In an interview with The Guardian, Fisher said she had been quite insecure at the time and had only had one boyfriend up until this point. The teenage Carrie became seriously infatuated, writing about her feelings in her journals at the time. Despite the turmoil Fisher felt at the time, the pair managed to keep their hookups under wraps for decades — unsurprisingly as Ford is notoriously private.
She had a long-running on-off romance with Paul Simon
Harrison Ford wasn't Carrie Fisher's only famous paramour, and the age gap with her next partner, Paul Simon, would be even wider. Fisher's friend Shelley Duvall had been living in L.A. with Simon for a couple of years when the pair first met. For Fisher, there was an instant connection, so when the two met again in New York on Saturday Night Live, things took off quickly with the couple beginning an on-off relationship that would span 12 years.
The same fateful night she bumped into Paul Simon at SNL, she met Dan Aykroyd on set. The two would later appear in "Blues Brothers" together, where Fisher played a small role as John Belushi's ex. While filming the movie, Belushi got it in his head that Fisher and Aykroyd would make a good pair, inviting them over to his place and then passing out. But it wasn't until Aykroyd performed the Heimlich maneuver on Fisher after she choked on some food that his plan was a success, with Aykroyd proposing marriage almost immediately. Despite having a blast together, Fisher soon found herself pivoting back to Simon, ultimately marrying him and breaking up a few more times before they would finally call it quits.
She had a wild friendship with Elizabeth Taylor
Given that Elizabeth Taylor moved in on her parent's marriage, it might come as a surprise that Carrie Fisher would end up becoming good friends with her — but it just goes to show that strong women are defined by so much more than their relationships to men. Not only was Taylor a regular guest at Fisher's parties, but she would even get preferential treatment. As Bruce Vilanch recounted to EW, Fisher would go out of her way to prepare Taylor's food and ensure she had a special place to enjoy it.
To understand how they arrived there, it's important to understand the context of their relationship. Elizabeth Taylor wasn't just any old homewrecker — she had been a newlywed with a young infant when her husband Mike Todd died in a plane crash. Eddie Fisher, who his daughter once referred to as a "womanizing, drug-addled rake" in her book "Shockaholic," was a friend of Todd and Taylor who was more than willing to swoop in and (ahem) comfort her in her time of need. After they wed, Taylor was Carrie's stepmom for five years until she and Eddie divorced.
Years later, Taylor invited Fisher and her daughter to an Easter pool party. Amid a tense conversation where Fisher started to lay into Taylor, Taylor abruptly announced she would push Fisher into the pool and then did so, diffusing the tension. A friendship was kindled, and Taylor even apologized to Reynolds for her past deeds.
She once threatened a skeezy producer Godfather-style
Carrie Fisher was known for being a straight shooter, and she wasn't one to put up with bad behavior — particularly when it was directed at her friends. Director Heather Ross, a friend of Fisher's, called into a Tucson radio station to recount a time when Fisher's intolerance meant sending a bold message to a producer who had sexually assaulted Ross. According to Ross, she had reached out to meet up with the producer in hopes of getting involved in his latest project. But things escalated after she got into his car with him. After coming up with an excuse to pull the car over, the producer tried to force himself on her, and when she managed to get away, he yelled at her that she would never work in his town.
Understandably distressed, Ross confided in her friend Carrie about the incident. Not one to stand by idly and let a predator get away with criminal behavior, Fisher decided to send a message. According to Ross, Fisher would later tell her she purchased a cow tongue from Jerry's Famous Deli in Westwood, packaging it in a Tiffany box and then wrapping it with a bow. Fisher hand-delivered it to the producer at Sony Studios, walking right into his office herself. Inside, Fisher had placed a note warning him that if he ever touched another woman again, "the next delivery will be something of yours in a much smaller box!'"
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Her amazing house included a player piano in her bathroom
Carrie Fisher was someone who decorated her home purely for her own joy. Describing Fisher's house in Town & Country, Sarah Paulson reminisced to Billie Lourd, "Living at your mom's house, to me, was living in a treehouse, a fairyland." After starring in "Star Wars," Fisher purchased a small 1930s cottage in Laurel Canyon, residing near her good friend and fellow actor Teri Garr, who lived in a log cabin next door. There, she refined her famous penchant for quirky decor — her front lawn featured a large foot statue, while her stairwell was ornamented with cutouts of characters from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
Fisher's home next to her mother would be no less amazing — think walls lined with oddball paintings, a Princess Leia sex doll, and colorful, mismatched dining chairs. But one of the most unusual decorative pieces was the player piano in her bathroom. Among the many folks to crash at Fisher's house through the years was singer-songwriter James Blunt, who recorded his song "Goodbye My Lover" on that very piano.
She had a therapy French bulldog named Gary
Toward the end of her life, Carrie Fisher never went anywhere without her therapy bulldog and personal mascot, Gary the French Bulldog. Throughout her lifetime, Fisher struggled with mental health issues and was known for her openness in talking about and helping to destigmatize mental health. Fisher, who was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder, benefited greatly from Gary's calming presence. Gary would even show up on television interviews and at movie premiers with Fisher — speaking to GMA, she said he "panted all the way through" "Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens."
After Gary's mom's death left him orphaned, he would later retire to live a quiet life with her assistant Corby McCoin. These days, Gary's fans can keep up with his daily antics on his Instagram page. According to Gary's web presence, the pup spent some time checking out the beaches of Florida before moving on to greener pastures in Kansas where he now resides.
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.