- Culture
- 28 Dec 17
One year after Carrie Fisher died suddenly at the relatively young age of 60, her Star Wars co-star Mark Hamill has paid a moving tribute to her, saying that she is "always with us".
Carrie Fisher suffered a suspected heart attack on a flight home last Christmas from London to Los Angeles and died in hospital some three days later, with her loved ones by her bedside.
In a touching tribute, Mark Hamill shared two pictures of the two of them together and a drawing of Carrie with her beloved dog, giving the finger. He wrote: “No one’s ever really gone… #AlwaysWithUs #CarrieOnForever.”
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The Star Wars actress had heroin, cocaine, methadone and ecstasy in her system at the time of her tragic death, according to the autopsy report.
While the coroner’s report on Carrie Fisher's death listed sleep apnea as the primary cause of death, it was added that a cocktail of illegal drugs also played a role.
The autopsy report also stated that a likely exposure to heroin could have suppressed her breathing as she went into cardiac arrest. But the report concluded: “The manner of death has been ruled undetermined.”
In addition to the Class-a drugs, Fisher was also taking Prozac, Abilify, Lamictal and oxycodone.
The autopsy also pointed out that the actress's family objected to a full autopsy, which meant that coroner’s investigators had access to limited toxicology specimens. The report is based on toxicology results and an external examination of the body.
"The exposure to cocaine took place sometime approximately in the last 72 hours of the sample that was obtained," stated the report.
"Based on the available toxicological information, we cannot establish the significance of the multiple substances that were detected in Ms. Fisher’s blood and tissue, with regard to the cause of death."
Reacting to the report, Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, told People magazine: “My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases…
"I know my Mom, she’d want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles. Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programs. Shame and those social stigmas are the enemies of progress to solutions and ultimately a cure.”
While the actress's brother, Todd Fisher told the Associated Press, “There’s nothing about this that is enlightening.... I am not shocked that part of her health was affected by drugs. If you want to know what killed her, it’s all of it.”
Shortly after Carrie Fisher's death last Christmas Mark Hamill wrote an emotional tribute to his Star Wars co-star, Carrie Fisher who tragically died at only 60-years-old .
Earlier in the year, writing in the The Hollywood Reporter, Hamill penned a guest column about the “joy” of playing Luke Skywalker alongside Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia on five Star Wars movies.
He compares working with Carrie Fisher to like being in a garage band. “Carrie and I occupied a unique area in each other’s lives - it was like we were in a garage band together that somehow hit it huge. We had no idea the impact Star Wars would have on the world,” he wrote in his moving tribute. "
He added: “I remember we were out on tour right before the movie opened. By the time we got to Chicago, there was a crowd at the airport. I said, ‘Hey look, you guys, there must be somebody famous on the plane.' I was looking around to see who it might be. And then in the crowd I saw a kid dressed in a Han Solo vest. Then I saw girl dressed like Princess Leia. I said, ‘Oh my God, look, Carrie, there’s somebody dressed just like you. She’s got the buns on her head!’”
He also noted, “I’m grateful that we stayed friends and got to have this second act with the new movies. I think it was reassuring to her that I was there, the same person, that she could trust me, as critical as we could sometimes be with each other.
"We ran the gamut over the years, where we were in love with each other, where we hated each other’s guts. ‘I’m not speaking to you, you’re such a judgmental, royal brat!’ We went through it all. It’s like we were a family."
He continued: “When you were in her good graces, you couldn’t have more fun with any person on the planet. She was able to make you feel like you were the most important thing in her life.
"I think that’s a really rare quality. And then you could go 180 degrees opposite, where you were furious with one another and wouldn't speak for weeks and weeks. But that’s all part of what makes a relationship complete. It’s not all one sided. Like I say, she was a handful.
"She was high maintenance. But my life would have been so much drabber and less interesting if she hadn’t been the friend that she was.”
Leading the tributes at the time of her death, Harrison Ford proffered: "Carrie was one-of-a-kind, brilliant, original. Funny and emotionally fearless. She lived her life, bravely. My thoughts are with her daughter Billie, her Mother Debbie, her brother Todd and her many friends. We will all miss her."