The Career of Carrie Fisher, Sci-Fi Princess (Part 2: 1985-2016)

"Instant gratification takes too long." Carrie Fisher

Courtesy of Time, Inc. via Fair Use

Continued from Part 1: 1969-1984

Star Wars catapulted the young Carrie Fisher into stardom overnight, which led to wild partying and drug use.  Since her recovery from those days, she always took responsibility for her actions and put forward the message that she had a real problem that required real help, and she was strong enough to eventually get it. As someone who really struggled with a nasty drinking habit, I fully appreciate Fisher’s advocacy for addiction therapy and mental health treatment. Sometimes a person with a dependency issue is just too damn scared to admit an uncontrollable problem and get help. Who better to get that last nudge and encouragement to clean up your act and walk tall again than from the Princess of Alderaan?

Better yet, Carrie Fisher took all that negativity, all those mental health problems, and all the wild times (both good and bad) and used them to create new works which are beautiful and inspiring. Her time off the deep end resulted in an overdose and hospitalization episode in 1985. This traumatic episode led to a slow renaissance in which she emerged as a writer. The 1985 episode and the times before and after inspired Fisher to write a novel, Postcards From the Edge, loosely based on herself. The 1987 novel was a success and also the beginning of Fisher’s rich writing career. She adapted it into a screenplay and Postcards From the Edge became a movie in 1990, directed by Mike Nichols (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Working Girl, Charlie Wilson’s War).

Fisher wrote several more novels loosely based on her own life. (Read more)