Inspiring Women: Carrie Fisher
Diane Shipley writes of the iconic women we love: past and present...
Carrie Fisher
When your father is actor Eddie Fisher (trust me, he was big in his day), your mother is irrepressible Hollywood star Debbie Reynolds (Singin’ in the Rain; uber-pushy mom Bobbi Adler in Will and Grace - where she basically plays herself) and your stepmother is Elizabeth Taylor, having dramatic tendencies is pretty much a given. And boy has Carrie Fisher had a dramatic life! She's had family upheavals (a troubled relationship with her father; her half-sisters didn’t know about her existence until they saw her in Star Wars), addictions to alcohol and drugs and she had a child with Hollywood agent Bryan Lourd.… who then left her for another man. It's been a pretty wild ride.
Plus, since her teens Carrie’s battled with the extreme highs and lows of manic depression (a term she prefers over the more politically correct ‘bipolar disorder’)...
Carrie is probably not someone you’d want to base your own life on but she’s still incredibly inspiring. It would be easy to fall into despair after the humiliation of an accidental and near-fatal drug overdose - instead Carrie turned the experience into the wonderful cult book(and later film) Postcards From The Edge. It would be easy to be bitter about not having the right medication to control her disease until very recently - but Fisher isn’t. It must be really tempting to say, “enough with the Princess Leia references already!” but Fisher’s always gracious about her Star Wars fans’ devotion.
Speaking of which, many only know Fisher for her iconic portrayal of Leia, but she’s done so much more. I love her for her four fabulous novels (Postcards..., Surrender the Pink, Delusions of Grandma and The Best Awful) and her roles in great, witty films like Hannah and her Sisters and When Harry Met Sally. Plus she’s one of the hardest-working script-doctors in Hollywood. The only really funny bits in The Wedding Singer, Sister Act and Lethal Weapon 3 (to name just a few)? Courtesy of Ms Fisher.
Most of all, Carrie is inspiring for her fighting spirit, her sense of humour, and her firm belief that comedy is just ‘tragedy plus timing’. She keeps laughing at her own experiences and is unafraid to keep striving for the life she wants.
Plus, she’s a huge fan of Austen. What more do you want?
Who are your favourite female icons, past and present? Let us know!
Diane co-edits Shiny Media’s fabulous women’s fiction blog, Trashionista and contributes to TV Scoop and Catwalk Queen, as well as writing a personal blog, What Do You Do?
