CULTURE
Carrie Fisher Passes Away at 60
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2016 strikes back.
Published on December 27, 2016

Carrie Fisher, whose claim to fame includes playing the iconic Princess Leia in Star Wars, passed away at age 60 today, four days after suffering a heart attack.

Family spokesman Simon Halls released a statement on behalf of Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd.

“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning,” reads the statement. “She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,” says Lourd. “Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”

Flying from London to Los Angeles on December 23, Ms. Fisher went into cardiac arrest fifteen minutes before landing. An EMT onboard administered life saving procedures and fifteen minutes after landing emergency crews were able to establish a pulse. Ms. Fisher tragically died four days later.

The daughter of showbiz veterans, Ms. Fisher was raised in Hollywood, which she traded for London in 1973, where she studied acting. She would return to the United States in time to play a key role in the 1977 film Star Wars.

Ms. Fisher also garnered attention for her use of drugs, including a cocaine addiction while filming The Empire Strikes Back.

The actress claimed to have started using marijuana at the age of 13, with her mother initially suggesting they used marijuana together. As a result, she did not use it outside of the home at first.

“We had a house in Palm Springs and we'd rented it - or she'd rented it - and then the people that rented the house left what - they used to call it 'a lid', behind,” Ms. Fisher recounted. “And so that was - she brought it back home and said, ‘Alright, so, you know, I'd rather you experiment,’ which I always think is a hilarious word for drug use, like someone's running out of a laboratory with a beaker smoking saying, ‘I've found it!’ And she forgot that we had this lid.”

She added, “...And so I experimented the hell out of it for the next however...till it went away.”

In her memoir The Princess Diarist, she recounts her love affair with Harrison Ford, her co-star in the original Star Wars trilogy and the 2015's The Force Awakens. Ms. Fisher claims Harrison smoked her out with “brutal strength” marijuana that was too strong for her liking. The relationship between marijuana and Ms. Fisher eventually turned sour.

“...Marijuana just did a real reverse on me,” she says. “It would have been great if I'd liked that, but it made me - you know, to say self-conscious doesn't do it justice - paranoid, and very unhappy. So …” She suspects it might have ultimately been Mr. Ford’s cannabis that did it to her. 

Ms. Fisher also became aware that a marijuana strain was named after her most popular role. Discussing her role in The Force Awakens at a press conference, Carrie said: “...there's a marijuana strain named after Princess Leia. I heard about that from a friend!''

Star Wars captured cinematic audiences worldwide in the late seventies by portraying a galactic empire and the brave rebels who fought against it, ultimately launching Ms. Fisher into the west’s popular consciousness for her role as Princess Leia. 

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Justin O'Connell
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Justin is a California-based writer who covers music, cannabis, craft beer, Baja California, science and technology. His writing has appeared in VICE and the San Diego Reader.
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