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Entertainment January 4, 2017
“Star Wars” icon Carrie Fisher had a dark side and she wasn’t ashamed of it.
The trailer for HBO’s upcoming “Bright Lights” documentary about her and her mother Debbie Reynolds – who died within 24 hours of each other – reminds audiences how Fisher lived as a champion for battling mental illness.
“Manic-depressive is a disease that was not diagnosed then,” Debbie states in the documentary, filmed last year, about her daughter’s troubled youth. “So nobody kind of knew what was going on with Carrie.”
But after being diagnosed, it was the way Fisher handled her illness that inspired others. Instead of merely highlighting the positive sides of recovery, she also talked about her lowest moments. In doing so, she pushed to combat the stigma surrounding mental illness and how people talk about it today.
READ MORE: #WomenThatDid: Carrie Fisher
Fisher’s candid discussions about her depression showed her refusal to be dismissed as a “hysteric” or “crazy.” She taught others the power of honesty, community and courage and she praised those who were fighting with her. So to honor the Princess Leia star’s Fisher’s inspirational legacy, here are nine quotes showing how she helped others with their own battles.
“I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that. I am still surviving it, but bring it on.”
“I have a chemical imbalance that, in its most extreme state, will lead me to a mental hospital. I used to think I was a drug addict, pure and simple – just someone who could not stop talking about drugs willfully … But it turns out that I am severely manic depressive.”
“I liked legal drugs. I liked medicine because I liked the philosophy of it. You’re going to feel better when you take two or eight of these. And I always wanted to feel better. And one of the side effects of Percodan is euphoria and I thought that was a side effect I could easily live with.”
READ MORE: Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher’s Unbreakable Mother/Daughter Bond
“Living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls. Not unlike a tour of Afghanistan (through the bombs and bullets, in this case, come from the inside). At times, being bipolar can be an all-consuming challenge, requiring a lot of stamina and even more courage. So if your’e living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of.”
— Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) June 1, 2016
“I’ve never been ashamed of my mental illness. It never occurred to me. Many people thank me for talking about it and mothers can tell their kids when they are upset with the diagnosis that Princess Leia is bipolar too.”
“They put you to sleep. They give you a medication so there are no more convulsions or anything convulsions or anything … It’s over very quickly and you go home and take a nap. Some of my memories will never return – along with the crippling feeling of defeat and hopelessness. Not a tremendous price to pay.”
“We’ve been given a challenging illness and there is no other option than to meet those challenges. Think of it as an opportunity to be heroic – not ‘I survived living in Mosul during an attack’ heroic, but an emotional survival.”
READ MORE: Carrie Fisher Raised Her Daughter Gender-Neutral; Why You Should, Too
“[Your survival is] an opportunity to be a good example to others who might share our disorder. That’s why it’s important to find a community – however small – of other bipolar people to share experiences and find comfort in the similarities.”
“You don’t have to like doing a lot of what you do, you just have to do it. You can let it all fall down and feel defeated and hopeless and that you’re done. But you reached out to me – that took courage. Now build on that. Move through those feelings and meet me on the other side. As your bipolar sister, I’ll be watching.”
READ MORE: 6 Celebs Speaking out Against the Stigma of Mental Illness
