Carrie Fisher, actress beloved for playing Princess Leia, dies at 60

Carrie Fisher, the actress who became a pop culture icon for her performance as Princess Leia in Star Wars, has died at age 60.

Fisher had suffered a massive heart attack last week on a flight from London to Los Angeles. On Sunday, her family said she was in stable condition.

A representative of Fisher’s daughter, Bille Lourd, confirmed that Fisher died on Tuesday morning.

“Fisher was only 19 years old when she became intergalactically famous as Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies,” NPR’s Andrew Limbong reports.

Fisher was “out and open about her issues with drugs and alcohol, and mental illness and treatment,” Andrew note. “She told NPR’s Fresh Air that getting all of this out there and speaking about the baggage was a way for her to understand herself.”

“It creates community when you talk about private things and you can find other people that have the same things,” Fisher said. “Otherwise I felt very lonely with some of the issues that I had.”

Fisher also spoke with Terry Gross about the famous gold bikini she wore while Princess Leia was enslaved by Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi.

“Nearly naked” was not her preferred aesthetic, she said. “It wasn’t my choice … it made me very nervous. I had to sit very straight because I couldn’t have lines on my sides, like little creases. No creases were allowed, so I had to sit very, very rigid straight.

“What redeems it is I get to kill him, which was so enjoyable. … I sawed his neck off with that chain that I killed him with. I really relished that because I hated wearing that outfit and sitting there rigid straight, and I couldn’t wait to kill him.”

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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