Carrie Fisher, best known to many as Princess Leia, was more than a princess to me. She was a Writer. She left her fingerprints on scores of movies, as her work as uncredited script doctor means that we don't know exactly how many movies she made smarter and funnier for us. But however many there are, it's not enough. There will never be enough words from a woman like her. Her words made us all better, stronger, well informed, and braver. She was more than a princess. She was a Hero.
She also left us with four novels and three memoirs, the latest of which deals with her time as the princess. The Princess Diarist is the story of Carrie Fisher Starring in Star Wars, from her audition with George Lucas and Brian de Palma (at the time, de Palma was looking for a lead actress for the movie Carrie, and the two directors auditioned actresses together, both in the room, as they read for both Carrie and Leia) through filming and on to what it was like to be Princess Leia for the rest of her life.
She shares with us the angst-ridden diaries of the nineteen-year-old girl, but she adds the commentary of the fifty-something woman with all of her wisdom and experience. The insight she's gained into the character of Leia and the meaning of the Star Wars franchise have been hard won, and she shares it all with us in her usual no-holds-barred style. She talks about her affair with Harrison Ford. She talks about her struggles with her weight. She talks about the absurdity of the comic book conventions. She talks about it all.
Carrie Fisher was so much more. She was more than a princess. She was more than an actress. She was more than a writer. She was more than a mental health care advocate. She was an honest, brilliant, witty, generous woman, and though our loss is profound, at least we have this one last memoir that helps her to live on in our hearts.