“Take your broken heart and make it into art.”
Bright lights and eccentricity are just two of the many things that made Carrie Fisher the brilliant and amazing person she was. The brights lights of stardom gave her as many amazing opportunities as it took away certain aspects of her privacy and mental sanity. “Eccentric” only describes a part of what Carrie was. She lived her life for no one but herself, always. This is one of the many reasons that she is such an inspiring person to me.
Throughout my life, I had seen a Star Wars movie here and there. I read one of Carrie’s memoirs in high school at the request of a friend, called “Postcards From The Edge”. At the time, I did not nearly appreciate it or her story. It wasn’t until around a year and a half ago, when I found myself watching her one woman show “Wishful Drinking” that I started to appreciate her and understood just how much of an extraordinary woman she was.
One of the many things that make Carrie so inspirational to me is how bravely she fought in her own life, struggling with mental illness since she was 12 years old. Carrie was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, but at the time she was given her diagnosis, the disease was known as “manic depression”. Struggling with mental illness is hard enough, not to mention going through it while being at the center of one of the most successful movie franchises of all time. Despite her struggles with drugs, alcohol and family issues, Carrie came out on the positive side of her tumultuous story with more than just a brave face. She had her words, and more than enough of them. She used her enormous platform of fame to speak out on issues that were close to her heart, specifically mental health and feminism. And that alone is truly a beautiful thing.
When reading her books during my first years of college, her writing often filled my head with deep thoughts and brought tears to my eyes. Her raw, fearless and relatable stories has inspired me numerous times to document what I am feeling and going through, regardless if it is positive or negative. I’m forever grateful to have be able to see even just a fraction of her brilliance. But how do you say goodbye to someone you’ve never met? That I’m still trying to figure out. All I can say is, Hollywood will miss its Princess. I know I sure will.
Thank you for forever curing my writer’s block, Carrie. Rest In Peace.
~Andrea
