Carrie Fisher, the American actress best known for her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, died Tuesday after suffering a full cardiac arrest last week, according to a family statement. She was 60 years old.
Fisher was pronounced dead at 8:55 a.m. on Dec. 27. after being in critical condition for a few days. She had gone into cardiac arrest on Dec. 23.
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“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away,” reads the statement from the family’s spokesperson Simon Halls.
“She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,” the statement from Lourd read. “Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”
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In a statement on Facebook, Fisher’s mother Debbie Reynolds thanked Fisher’s fans for embracing “the gifts and talents” of her daughter, and said she was grateful for their thoughts.
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TMZ originally reported that Fisher experienced a cardiac arrest 15 minutes before her United Airlines flight was due to land. An emergency medical technician who happened to be on the plane administered CPR. Fisher was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center as soon as the plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport.
YouTube personality Anna Akana was on the plane at the time of the incident, and tweeted out details:
https://twitter.com/AnnaAkana/status/812403915496910848
Born in Beverley Hills, California in 1956 to pop singer Eddie Fisher and prolific actress Debbie Reynolds, Fisher made her film debut with a minor role in the 1975 film Shampoo, a satirical comedy starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn.
But her big break came when she landed the role of Princess Leia in the science-fiction classic Star Wars, starring alongside Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill.
ET Canada reported that Fisher recently revealed during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she had a brief affair with Ford during the filming of Star Wars, when she was 19 years old and he was in his 30s and married.
Details of the affair were reportedly shared in Fisher’s new memoir The Princess Diarist, which she was promoting through a book tour.
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Fisher also famously dated musician Paul Simon in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and was briefly engaged to Canadian actor and Blues Brother co-star Dan Aykroyd. She also had a relationship with talent agent Bryan Lourd; the two had one child together, Billie Catherine Lourd, herself an actress.
As noted by ET Canada, Fisher made headlines recently after she criticized Hollywood for fixating on actors’ weight and physical appearance, revealing that she was told to lose 35 pounds to reprise her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the 2015 sequel to 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
“Nothing changes, it’s an appearance-driven thing. I’m in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance. That is so messed up. They might as well say get younger, because that’s how easy it is,” Fisher said in the January issue of Good Housekeeping U.K.
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In addition to her iconic portrayal of Princess Leia, Fisher also starred in a slew of other movies including When Harry Met Sally…, Hannah and Her Sisters and Blues Brothers. She also starred in Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, a 2016 documentary exploring her relationship with her mother in the backdrop of a life in show business.
Acting aside, Fisher was noted for her semi-autobiographical novels including Postcards from the Edge (1987) and Delusions of Grandma (1994).
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She is also known for publicly discussing her struggles with bipolar disorder and cocaine addiction, having admitted to using cocaine while filming Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back, as reported by ET Canada.
Fisher was not married at the time of her death. She is survived by her daughter Billie Lourd.
— With files from ET Canada and The Associated Press
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