Hollywood is in mourning over the loss of its brightest stars, Carrie Fisher.

E! News confirmed Tuesday that the Star Wars actress died at 8:55 a.m. PT. Speaking on behalf of Fisher's actress daughter Billie Lourd, publicist Simon Halls said, "She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly. Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers."

Fisher's mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, broke her silence via Facebook. "Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter," she wrote. "I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop."</s>TMZ is reporting Carrie Fisher’s mom Debbie Reynolds has been rushed to the hospital.

This is one day after Fisher died from cardiac arrest.

The daughter of Hollywood stars Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, and a survivor of early fame, drug addiction and bipolar disorder, she wrote with unsentimental wit and understanding about her private struggles and about an industry she was raised in but stood apart from.

Fisher, known to the world as Princess Leia of “Star Wars,” died Tuesday at 60, four days after falling ill aboard an airline flight. Media reports said the actress had suffered a heart attack.

“I do believe you’re only as sick as your secrets. If that’s true, I’m just really healthy,” she said in a confessional 2009 interview with The Associated Press.

The public fell in love with her twice: as Princess Leia and as the wry truth-teller of such books as “Postcards From the Edge,” ”Wishful Drinking” and “The Princess Diarist,” in which she revealed having an intense affair with “Star Wars” co-star Harrison Ford.

Fisher told plenty of secrets about others — about her parents’ breakup when she was 2, about being advised by Warren Beatty on wearing a bra in “Shampoo,” and about arguing with then-husband Paul Simon about whether it was better to be a man or a woman.

Asked by NPR recently why she wrote about her fling with Ford, who was 15 years older and married, she joked that she could hold back no longer because he had refused to die: “I kept calling and saying, ‘When are you going to die because I want to tell the story?’”

But she was toughest on herself and unafraid to turn trauma into humor. She became the most knowable of celebrities, with a great and generous gift for bringing us into her unusual life.

“One of the therapists came in to admit me and asked how long I had been a drug addict,” she wrote in Postcards,” her autobiographical novel that became a movie of the same name. “I said I didn’t think I was a drug addict because I didn’t take any one drug. ‘Then you’re a drugs addict,’ she said. She asked if I had deliberately tried to kill myself. I was insulted by the question. I guess when you find yourself having overdosed, it’s a good indicator that your life isn’t working.”

She is survived by her mother; her daughter, Billie Lourd, from a relationship with talent agent Bryan Lourd; her brother, the actor-filmmaker Todd Fisher; and her half-sisters, actresses Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Her father died in 2010.

Born and raised in Beverly Hills, Carrie Fisher was a bookish child who had difficult relationships with both parents. In a celebrity breakup that made headlines everywhere in 1958, Eddie Fisher left his family for Elizabeth Taylor.

Eddie Fisher was hardly present for his daughter in her early years, and Reynolds’ second husband, shoe store magnate Harry Karl, was even worse. He squandered his own money and Reynolds’ on gambling and prostitutes and left the actress and her children broke and devastated.

Carrie Fisher went into the family business early — too early, she would later say. She was performing on stage by age 12 and appeared with Reynolds in the 1973 Broadway revival “Irene.” She was still a teenager when she made her feature film debut in “Shampoo” in 1975.

Even after “Star Wars,” Fisher would speak often of feeling overshadowed by her mother and about the need to break away, a conflict dramatized in “Postcards From the Edge.”

Mother and daughter were estranged for years but reconciled later in life and came to admire each other’s talent and determination. “Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher,” an HBO documentary, is scheduled for release in 2017.

Fisher’s film credits included a wide range of spoofs, musicals and romantic comedies, from “Austin Powers” and “The Blues Brothers” to “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “When Harry Met Sally …” Meryl Streep was the star when “Postcards From the Edge,” with a screenplay by Fisher, was adapted into a film of the same name in 1990. Shirley MacLaine played Streep’s mother, the stand-in for Reynolds.

But for millions, Fisher was Princess Leia, with her now-iconic hair bagels and metal bikini. She uttered the immortal phrase “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” in the original “Star Wars” in 1977.

Director George Lucas, who considered Jodie Foster, Amy Irving and dozens of others for the role, said he had been looking for an actress who could “hold her own” against her male co-stars.

In her 2008 memoir “Wishful Drinking,” she recounted how Lucas told her on the first day of shooting that she couldn’t wear a bra under her costume because “there’s no underwear in space.” Lucas, she said, later explained that a woman could be strangled by her bra in the weightlessness of space.

Fisher wisecracked in her book that that would make for a “fantastic obit,” adding: “I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.”

Fisher would make a lot of wisecracks about the role that made her pop-culture royalty and led Reynolds to note ruefully she was now regarded as the mother of Princess Leia.

Fisher disliked her hairstyle, disparaged her hybrid British-American accent in the films and was appalled by some of the “Star Wars” merchandise, including a Princess Leia candy dispenser.

Given the chance, she would have preferred to play Han Solo.

“When I first read the script I thought that’s the part to be, always wry and sardonic,” she told a gathering in England in 2015. “He’s always that. I feel like a lot of the time Leia’s either worried or pissed or, thank God, sort of snarky. But I’m much more worried and pissed than Han Solo ever was, and those aren’t fun things to play.”

Her drug problems pre-dated “Star Wars.” She recalled smoking pot at age 13 (She would later learn that there is a kind of marijuana called “Princess Leia.”) and dropped acid at 21.

She used so much cocaine that even world-class partyer John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose at 33, warned her to stop.

In her 20s, she was diagnosed as bipolar and treated with electroshock therapy and medication, which she wrote about in the memoir “Shockaholic.”

“People relate to aspects of my stories, and that’s nice for me because then I’m not all alone with it,” she told the AP in 2009.

Ever ready to satirize herself, she even played “Carrie Fisher” a few times, as in David Cronenberg’s dark Hollywood sendup “Maps to the Stars” and in an episode of “Sex and the City.” In the past 15 years, Fisher also had a steady career as a television guest star, perhaps most memorably as a has-been comedy legend on “30 Rock.”

Her one-woman show, “Wishful Drinking,” which she had performed on and off across the country since 2006, made it to Broadway in 2009 and was captured for HBO in 2010.

“I don’t have a problem with drugs so much as I have a problem with sobriety,” she wisecracked in the show. At another point, she said: “I’m a product of Hollywood inbreeding. When two celebrities mate, something like me is the result.”</s>Image copyright AP Image caption Debbie Reynolds (left) with her daughter and fellow actress Carrie Fisher

Debbie Reynolds, who starred opposite Gene Kelly in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain, has died a day after the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher.

The US actress, 84, had been rushed to hospital with a suspected stroke.

Her son, Todd Fisher, said the stress of his sister's death had been too much for her and in her last words, she had said she wanted to be with Carrie.

US actress Bette Midler said Reynolds was "devoted to her craft" and that her death was "too hard to comprehend".

Actress Debra Messing said Reynolds, her on-screen mother in sitcom Will and Grace, had been an "inspiration".

"A legend of course," she wrote in a statement. "The epitome of clean-cut American optimism, dancing with Gene Kelly as an equal, a warrior woman who never stopped working.''

Actor Rip Torn, who worked with Reynolds in her Las Vegas stage show, said: "I was blessed to work with this remarkable woman for 45 almost 50 years. That makes for a very rare bond and unique relationship.

"She was generous to a fault, never caring who got the laugh from the audience. I will always love her."

Veteran comic actress Carol Channing agreed: "She was beautiful and generous. It seems like only yesterday she was having lunch here at the house and we were discussing the possibility of working together in a new show."

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Carrie Fisher tells Debbie Reynolds, "I love you momma"

For Star Trek actor William Shatner, Reynolds was one of the last of the Hollywood royalty.

"It breaks my heart that she is gone," he wrote. "I'd hoped that my grieving was done for 2016.

Reynolds had been at her son's house in Beverly Hills - apparently discussing the arrangements for Carrie Fisher's funeral - when she was taken ill.

She was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre suffering from breathing difficulties and her death was confirmed a few hours later. It is thought she suffered a stroke.

Carrie Fisher, renowned for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars series, had died aged 60 the day before, after spending three days in a Los Angeles hospital.

She never regained consciousness after suffering a massive heart attack on board a flight from London to Los Angeles on Friday.

Speaking to the Associated Press news agency about his mother, Todd said: "She's now with Carrie and we're all heartbroken.''

Celebrity news site TMZ reported that Reynolds cracked while discussing plans for Carrie's funeral with her son, telling him: "I miss her so much; I want to be with Carrie."

Can you die from a broken heart? By Stephen Evans, BBC News

Image copyright PA

Some people talk about "broken heart syndrome", known more formally as stress cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy. According to the British Heart Foundation, it is a "temporary condition where your heart muscle becomes suddenly weakened or stunned. The left ventricle, one of the heart's chambers, changes shape."

It can be brought on by a shock. "About three quarters of people diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy have experienced significant emotional or physical stress prior to becoming unwell," the charity says.

This stress might be bereavement but it could be a shock of another kind. There are documented cases of people suffering the condition after being frightened by colleagues pulling a prank, or suffering the stress of speaking to a large group of people. It's speculated that the sudden release of hormones - in particular, adrenaline - causes the stunning of the heart muscle.

This is different from a heart attack, which is a stopping of the heart because the blood supply is constricted, perhaps by clogged arteries.

Read more here

How does grief cause physical pain?

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Funny and vital": Fans in Hollywood mourn Debbie Reynolds

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Singin' in the Rain guaranteed Reynolds Hollywood legend status

Reynolds was leading lady in a succession of major Hollywood musicals and comedies in the 1950s and 60s.

She rose to stardom with Singin' in the Rain, at the age of only 19.

She received a best actress Academy Award nomination for the 1964 musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Her other films included 1973 animated film Charlotte's Web, in which she provided the voice for the eponymous spider.

In 2015 she was given a lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild. The award was presented to her by her daughter.

Reynolds married singer Eddie Fisher in 1955 and had two children, Carrie and Todd. The couple divorced in 1959 after news emerged of his affair with movie star Elizabeth Taylor.

Reynolds married twice more.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Reynolds (left) had a complex relationship with her daughter Carrie Fisher [pictured in 1972]

The actress has a sometimes strained relationship with her actress daughter, who wrote about it in her semi-autobiographical novel Postcards from the Edge.

The pair stopped speaking to each other for many years but became closer later in life.

In an interview last month with US radio network NPR, Fisher said her mother was "an immensely powerful woman" whom she admired "very much".

As people gathered to pay their respects to the actress at Hollywood's Walk of Fame, one couple, Jose and Daniela Barrera, appeared to speak for many after a year marked by celebrity deaths.

"It's just, you know, a sad time I guess," Jose told the Reuters news agency. "With the closing of the year and so many deaths in the year, it's just sad."

"It was so sad," added Daniela. "It was a shocker. I mean, what were the odds of this happening? It was incredible finding out, sad."</s>Actress Debbie Reynolds was transported to a Los Angeles hospital in fair but serious condition on Wednesday, just a day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, passed away, ABC News has learned.Los Angeles police said a woman in fair but serious condition was picked up from a home in the 1700 block of Coldwater Canyon Drive and transported to Cedars Sinai Medical Center at about 1 p.m. A source close to Reynolds confirmed to ABC News that woman was the 84-year-old actress.It was unclear what kind of medical emergency Reynolds was suffering but her son, Todd Fisher, told ABC News that his mother "is not OK."Reynolds is best known for her role in the 50s musical "Singin' in the Rain."Daughter Carrie Fisher was known around the world as Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars." She died Tuesday at age 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest episode on a plane to L.A. on Friday.DEVELOPING: We will add more details to this report as they become available.</s>“I’m good at this,” Carrie Fisher says about 10 minutes into a 1994 interview with Charlie Rose. But she’s selling herself short. Fisher was great at this. Though we all fell in love with her interview appearances during the promotional cycle for 2015's The Force Awakens, she had been doing this—that is, giving every interviewer more wit, thoughtfulness, and well-meaning aggression than the average celebrity—for years.

Take this exchange, which occurs after Fisher tells she “respects” Rose for having a job that “costs” him so much (i.e. the time he could otherwise spend on his personal life).

Later, Rose brings up a quote from John Belushi he alleges that Fisher “objected” to bringing up during the interview. Fisher corrects him, saying she does not “object to anything,” and continues:

FISHER: I like the truth in any form. It only bothers me if I’m asked the truth about other people, I cannot tell their truth. I will tell mine in any form. I want to. I do. That is what I do. It excites me. It excites me about other people. So, yes, John Belushi said to me, ‘You and I are alike,’ and then he died. And he was right. Because I could have. I still could. FISHER: Sure! I mean I live with that. It could happen again at any time. Absolutely. ROSE: Why did you have a slip? FISHER: Because I went to the dentist. I was given Percocet. You think I’m gonna read the thing and go, ‘One every four hours? That’s a good idea!’ FISHER: Well I don’t think we’ve got the time for me to explain it to you. I don’t think it can be explained. I do believe it’s somehow inborn. And that you have to really work hard at it. I mean, I have an obsessive, disorganized nature. But I do get organized results on occasion. But, unfortunately, I have to work very hard at keeping this beast tamed.’”

The interview, conducted when she was 37, shows a marked change from her behavior during The Empire Strikes Back’s publicity tour of her youth, when she (and in one instance, Billy Dee Williams) turned a deaf ear to every awful question asked, and responded more politely than the interviewers probably deserved.

“I write a little bit,” she quietly told a journalist 1980 when asked about her hobbies. Fortunately for us, she started writing—and talking—a whole lot more. Now that she’s gone, it doesn’t feel like enough. But we’ll take what we were so lucky to have been given.</s>Penn Jillette, a writer, television host and frequent guest on a wide range of shows, is half of the Emmy Award-winning magic act duo Penn & Teller. His most recent book is "Presto." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) "I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra."

I met Carrie Fisher in 1990. The crazy freedom fighter and pornographer, Al Goldstein, had invited me as his date to the Adult Video Awards -- the porn awards. They were held in Santa Monica in a circus tent. Al and I were led to a table with Buck Henry and Buck's date, Carrie Fisher. I was star struck.

I never gave two space figs about "Star Wars" but I am nuts for funny writers and Buck and Carrie are two of the funniest. There was no place on Earth I would have rather been that night than at Buck and Carrie's table at the porn awards.

I didn't know what to say to Carrie to get a conversation started, but before I even sat down, Nina Hartley came over to say hi. Nina is a porn actor friend of mine, and she had just gotten new breast implants and she wanted to show them off to me. Nina wanted to show them off to everyone and I was so happy to be a subset of her everyone. Nina asked me how her new breasts looked and I told her, honestly, that they looked great.

Nina then invited me to give them a feel. As Carrie Fisher's ex-husband, Paul Simon, once sang, "Who am I to blow against the wind?" We were in public ... but a very special kind of public. We were in porn public. I reached up under Nina's shirt, checked out the surgery, and praised Nina's after-market rack.

Before Nina even left our table, Carrie said the first words she would ever say to me. "Penn, would you like to feel my breasts? I've been in legitimate features."

Wow. I fell in love. I was in awe. It wasn't just the sexy, self-assured stunt of inviting a stranger to reach under her shirt that killed me; it was mostly the use of the phrase "legitimate features." That's perfect comedy writing.

The rest of the evening was sitting with Carrie, Buck, and Al and having the time of my life. I couldn't keep up, but I sure could listen and learn and laugh.

Carrie and I stayed friends. Several years later when she was telling her version of "The Aristocrats" joke for our movie of that name, she kept asking me -- while we were rolling -- who had done the dirtiest, most disgusting, depraved, version of the joke we'd recorded so far. She wanted to know whom she had to beat.

The dirtiest up to that point had been Gilbert Gottfried and Bob Saget. But Carrie beat them fists up. She won and stole our movie.

When Carrie introduced me to her mom, Debbie Reynolds, in Las Vegas, the introduction included how we had met at the porn awards. Carrie couldn't resist pointing out that her mom was also stacked and reminding me that Ms. Reynolds had also been in legitimate features.

Carrie Fisher was what it meant to be in showbiz. She was smart, funny, sophisticated, brave and honest enough to live outside the law. I loved her. I will miss her.</s>This is so sad…

Just one day after her daughter passed away from heart complications, Debbie Reynolds has been rushed to the hospital.

According to TMZ the 84-year-old who was planning her daughter Carrie Fisher’s funeral, apparently suffered a possible stroke.

The actress was at her son’s house in 911 when paramedics were called.

Please get well soon Debbie!!!!</s>“I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.”

I met Carrie Fisher in 1990. The crazy freedom fighter and pornographer, Al Goldstein, had invited me as his date to the Adult Video Awards — the porn awards. They were held in Santa Monica in a circus tent. Al and I were led to a table with Buck Henry and Buck’s date, Carrie Fisher. I was star struck.

I never gave two space figs about “Star Wars” but I am nuts for funny writers and Buck and Carrie are two of the funniest. There was no place on Earth I would have rather been that night than at Buck and Carrie’s table at the porn awards.

I didn’t know what to say to Carrie to get a conversation started, but before I even sat down, Nina Hartley came over to say hi. Nina is a porn actor friend of mine, and she had just gotten new breast implants and she wanted to show them off to me. Nina wanted to show them off to everyone and I was so happy to be a subset of her everyone. Nina asked me how her new breasts looked and I told her, honestly, that they looked great.

Nina then invited me to give them a feel. As Carrie Fisher’s ex-husband, Paul Simon, once sang, “Who am I to blow against the wind?” We were in public … but a very special kind of public. We were in porn public. I reached up under Nina’s shirt, checked out the surgery, and praised Nina’s after-market rack.

Before Nina even left our table, Carrie said the first words she would ever say to me. “Penn, would you like to feel my breasts? I’ve been in legitimate features.”

Wow. I fell in love. I was in awe. It wasn’t just the sexy, self-assured stunt of inviting a stranger to reach under her shirt that killed me; it was mostly the use of the phrase “legitimate features.” That’s perfect comedy writing.

The rest of the evening was sitting with Carrie, Buck, and Al and having the time of my life. I couldn’t keep up, but I sure could listen and learn and laugh.

Carrie and I stayed friends. Several years later when she was telling her version of “The Aristocrats” joke for our movie of that name, she kept asking me — while we were rolling — who had done the dirtiest, most disgusting, depraved, version of the joke we’d recorded so far. She wanted to know whom she had to beat.

The dirtiest up to that point had been Gilbert Gottfried and Bob Saget. But Carrie beat them fists up. She won and stole our movie.

When Carrie introduced me to her mom, Debbie Reynolds, in Las Vegas, the introduction included how we had met at the porn awards. Carrie couldn’t resist pointing out that her mom was also stacked and reminding me that Ms. Reynolds had also been in legitimate features.

Carrie Fisher was what it meant to be in showbiz. She was smart, funny, sophisticated, brave and honest enough to live outside the law. I loved her. I will miss her.</s>The world lost more than a smart, funny, beloved actress and writer when Carrie Fisher died Tuesday; it also lost a powerful advocate for mental health.

Fisher’s death after suffering a cardiac emergency Friday drew an outpouring of comments lauding her courageous openness about her personal struggle with bipolar disorder and addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Diagnosed as bipolar in her twenties, Fisher later wrote and spoke frequently about her experiences.

In her 2008 memoir “Wishful Drinking,” she wrote:

One of the things that baffles me (and there are quite a few) is how there can be so much lingering stigma with regards to mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder. In my opinion, living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls. Not unlike a tour of duty in Afghanistan (though 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 you’re living with this illness and functioning at all, it’s something to be proud of, not ashamed of.

When WebMD asked her how it felt to be a “poster child” for bipolar disorder, she replied: “Well, I am hoping to get the centerfold in Psychology Today. It’s a combination of everything. It was out there, anyway; I wanted my version of it out there. Now, it seems every show I watch there’s always someone bipolar in it! It’s going through the vernacular like ‘May the force be with you’ did. But I define it, rather than it defining me.”

In the same interview, about six years ago, Fisher said she tended toward mania more often, but depression became a bigger issue as she got older.

She offered advice to others struggling with mental illness in a 2013 interview with Sarasota’s Herald Tribune: “Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”

And when it came to dealing with addiction, she told Charlie Rose in 2009: “I’m proud of myself that I’ve been able to get through this stuff, and I’ve been able to — I can’t overcome it, but I can use it. ... I have problems, problems don’t have me.”

Those who work in the mental health field praised her bravery and the impact it had on others.

“I think Carrie Fisher really was very generous and gracious to make her personal struggles with bipolar disorder in the public light, to try and destigmatize mental illness,” Dr. Victor Fornari, a psychiatrist at Zucker Hillside Hospital, in Glen Oaks, New York, and Cohen Children’s Medical Center, in New Hyde Park, told CBS News.

“I was impressed with her as a person and really appreciated and respected her open spirit, in the same way Betty Ford opened up about her alcoholism,” he added.

On social media, many others added their words of gratitude and respect:

Comedian Margaret Cho tweeted, “We just lost a great ally for mental health and addiction. Be strong, be as strong as she’d want you to be. Rest in paradise @carrieffisher.”

Samantha Shannon, author of “The Bone Season” series, tweeted, “I can’t describe my grief at Carrie Fisher’s death. She was not only multi-talented, but unashamedly forthright about her mental illness.”

In a second tweet, she added, “Seeing her courage helped me a great deal when I was in the grip of anxiety, and thought I would never find a way out.”

While Fisher was prolific in writing and talking about her struggles with addiction and bipolar disorder – a self-described over-sharer — her one-line Twitter bio speaks volumes about how she viewed her health challenges:

“There’s no room for demons when you’re self possessed.”</s>Tue, Dec 27: Online producer Yuliya Talmazan talks about the online reaction to Carrie Fisher’s death as the world comes to grips with the loss of an icon and acting legend.
American actress Debbie Reynolds has a stroke and dies one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher's death.