Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher, a rebel before and after Star Wars

With her sharp wit and humor, Carrie Fisher was unapologetically open about her battles with mental illness, addiction, and her Hollywood legacy.

A portrait of Carrie Fisher in 1977, the year she debuted as Princess Leia Organa in the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope.
Photograph courtesy Getty
National Geographic's book In Praise of Difficult Women by Karen Karbo profiles women throughout the world who have pushed societal norms and boundaries in areas spanning the gambit from politics, art, media, books, and more.

I cried when I heard Carrie Fisher died, a couple of days after Christmas in 2016. People all across the galaxy did: Star Wars nerds, avid readers of her novels and memoirs, mental health advocates, self-proclaimed killjoy feminists. The coroner’s report, released six months later, reported that traces of heroin and cocaine had been found in her system. Some fans left the club, outraged that it wasn’t a simple, noncontroversial heart attack caused by too much fish and chips (she was on her way home from London) that ended her life. But Carrie was never easy, never well behaved, never secretive about her demons. She was never not controversial in life, so why should her death be any different?

I’ve always

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