It’s hard to believe that it’s been exactly a year since Carrie Fisher tragically passed away at the young age of 60. She did so in the midst of her triumphant return to the Star Wars universe in Episode VII: The Force Awakens as well as having just completed filming Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Returning to the US to celebrate Christmas with her mother, renowned entertainer Debbie Reynolds, Fisher suffered a heart attack and passed away several days later. Destitute, Reynolds passed away a few days after.
Fisher’s death was a worldwide tragedy and it has resonated throughout 2017. Today, the Internet mourned again about Carrie Fisher, our princess, our rebel, our general. Many of the cast members took time today to remember her counsel, her humor and the lessons they learned during their time with her. But it wasn’t just the stars. People from around the world also paid their respects to Fisher.
Her daughter, Billie Lourd who also stars in The Last Jedi, wrote on Instagram, “We journeyed to northern Norway to see if we might ‘see the heavens lift up her dark skirts and flash her dazzling privates across our unworthy irises’ and she did. I love you times infinity.”
Mark Hamill wrote on his Instagram account, “No one’s ever really gone… #AlwaysWithUs #CarrieOnForever .
And while she touched the stars, both literally and figuratively, she also touched you and me, normal folks who watched her struggle through the years with addiction and mental illness, and yet who did so with aplomb and grace and a shit ton of good humor. We were all richer for her presence in this world and we’re damned lucky we have her legacy — her books, her films, her interviews and everywhere else she cropped up — to keep us going for a good long while.
A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, a little girl watched a movie about a princess that didn’t need saving, and she grew up and became an aerospace engineer that builds spacecraft and that takes no crap. Thank you, Carrie. #CarrieOnForever pic.twitter.com/n7LM5f8VJO
— Steph Evz (@StephEvz43) December 27, 2017
I don’t remember a world without Carrie Fisher in it. It seemed she was always there, larger than life, bigger than anything I’d ever seen. I watched her in Star Wars, of course, but also read her books and followed her life in pulp magazines like People and Us. There never was a time when she wasn’t somewhere in the background, though many figured she was washed up.
When my daughter was born, we started watching Star Wars movies together when she was five or so. There wasn’t a scene she loved more than watching Leia strangle Jabba the Hutt to death with her slave chain. My little girl had found her hero.
It’s inconceivable to live in a world without her. We’ve lost a great example of a woman who lived life on her own terms and knew how to flip a finger better than anyone in the business. She was an example to all of us — to understand, accept and overcome our weaknesses and to do it all with good humor. Even in failing, she knew how to get back up, dust herself off, flip the bird at whatever had brought her low and begin climbing again. We should all learn from that.
Here’s to you, Carrie — Our princess. Our rebel. Our general. We can’t wait to see you again.
May the Force be with you…always.
