LOS ANGELES: Carrie Fisher, who rose to fame as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” films and later endured drug addiction and stormy romances with show business heavyweights, died on Tuesday aged 60, her daughter said through a family spokesman.

“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away this morning,” Lourd said in a statement issued by Simon Halls. “She was loved by the world, and she will be missed profoundly.” Fisher’s friend and former Star Wars co-star Mark Hamill said in a tweet: “No words. #Devastated”

Fisher, the daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, who died in 2010, had been in England shooting the third season of the British sitcom “Catastrophe”. She suffered a heart attack during a flight on Friday from London to Los Angeles. She was met by paramedics and rushed to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Her death came a month after the actress made headlines by disclosing that she had a three-month love affair with her “Star Wars” co-star Harrison Ford 40 years ago.

Fisher revealed the secret to People magazine while promoting her new memoir, “The Princess Diarist”. The book is based on Fisher’s diaries from her time working on the first “Star Wars” movie.

Fisher said the affair started and ended in 1976 during production on the blockbuster sci-fi adventure in which she first appeared as the intrepid Princess Leia.

Published in Dawn December 28th, 2016