text: Today’s news about the passing of Hollywood legend Carrie Fisher left everyone in a state of shock. 
   
   Even though the actress had suffered a heart attack just a few days prior, the world hoped and prayed that she’d pull through. Now, we’re struggling to figure out what it means to no longer have this incredibly funny, talented, and passionate actress with us. 
   
   Advertisement 
   
   Here are just some of what Fisher’s Hollywood friends and colleagues are saying about her passing, including her Star Wars collaborators past and present. 
   
   Updated: We updated with additional reactions over the course of the day. ||||| CLOSE Carrie Fisher, best known for her role as Princess Leia in the 'Star Wars' saga, has passed away. The 'Star Wars' actress suffered a heart attack on a flight Friday. She was taken to a hospital in L.A. where she died four days later. USA TODAY 
   
   Carrie Fisher signed copies of her latest book, 'The Princess Diarist,' at a Los Angeles event in November. (Photo: Paul Archuleta, FilmMagic) 
   
   Carrie Fisher is most widely known for her turn as Princess Leia in the hugely popular Star Wars films, but the daughter of two entertainers — actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher — was also an acclaimed author renowned for her trenchant wit. 
   
   The following is a sampling of memorable lines attributed to Fisher, who died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack during a Dec. 23 flight from London to Los Angeles. 
   
   From Twitter: 
   
   "If my life wasn't funny, it would just be true, and that is unacceptable." (2011) 
   
   "There's no room for demons when you're self-possessed." (2014) 
   
   From Fisher's 1987 semi-autobiographical novel, Postcards From the Edge: 
   
   "Instant gratification takes too long." 
   
   “I shot through my twenties like a luminous thread through a dark needle, blazing toward my destination: Nowhere.” 
   
   “Actually, I am a failed anorexic. I have anorexic thinking, but I can't seem to muster the behavior.” 
   
   “Life is a cruel, horrible joke and I am the punch line.” 
   
   “You know how I always seem to be struggling, even when the situation doesn't call for it?” 
   
   “Sometimes I feel like I've got my nose pressed up against the window of a bakery, only I'm the bread.” 
   
   “My inner world seems largely to consist of three rotating emotions: embarrassment, rage, and tension. Sometimes I feel excited, but I think that's just positive tension.” 
   
   From her 2008 memoir, Wishful Drinking: 
   
   “Sometimes you can only find Heaven by slowly backing away from Hell.” 
   
   “I feel I'm very sane about how crazy I am.” 
   
   “No motive is pure. No one is good or bad — but a hearty mix of both. And sometimes life actually gives to you by taking away.” 
   
   “I quote fictional characters, because I'm a fictional character myself!” 
   
   “Having waited my entire life to get an award for something, anything … I now get awards all the time for being mentally ill. It’s better than being bad at being insane, right? How tragic would it be to be runner-up for Bipolar Woman of the Year?” 
   
   From her new memoir, The Princess Diarist: 
   
   “Vultures are difficult to charm unless you’re off somewhere rotting in the noonday sun. Casually rotting … a glib cadaver.” 
   
   “Someone has to stand still for you to love them. My choices are always on the run.” 
   
   “I act like someone in a bomb shelter trying to raise everyone’s spirits.” 
   
   “Movies were meant to stay on the screen, flat and large and colorful, gathering you up into their sweep of story, carrying you rollicking along to the end, then releasing you back into your unchanged life. But this movie (Star Wars) misbehaved. It leaked out of the theater, poured off the screen, affected a lot of people so deeply that they required endless talismans and artifacts to stay connected to it.” 
   
   Sources: Goodreads.com, USA TODAY research 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2iB7jvR ||||| Actor Carrie Fisher was best known for playing Princess Leia in Star Wars, but she also left a legacy as an advocate for removing the stigma surrounding mental illness, changing minds by opening up about her own struggle with depression and bipolar disorder. 
   
   Fisher, who died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack days earlier, had a long history of drug abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. She turned that experience into the comic novel Postcards From the Edge. In the 1990s, she opened up about her diagnosis with bipolar disorder and her experiences with depression. 
   
   “I used to think I was a drug addict, pure and simple — just someone who could not stop taking drugs willfully,” Fisher told Diane Sawyer in 1995. “And I was that. But it turns out that I am severely manic depressive.” 
   
   Many have credited Fisher’s openness with breaking down stigma over mental health issues, and the topic was on the top of the minds of many of her admirers following her death. ||||| LISTEN: Carrie Fisher, Terry Gross — And Gary The Dog 
   
   toggle caption Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images 
   
   Actress Carrie Fisher, beloved for her iconic role as Princess Leia, died on Tuesday at the age of 60. 
   
   She leaves behind her daughter, Billie Lourd, her brother, Todd Fisher, her mother, Debbie Reynolds — and her French bulldog, Gary. 
   
   Gary Fisher is a celebrity in his own right — he traveled widely with Fisher and was a star on Instagram and Twitter. 
   
   And when Carrie Fisher visited NPR's studios in New York City, to talk to Fresh Air host Terry Gross, Gary came along, too. 
   
   Gross, however, was in Philadelphia. She didn't know there was a dog in our studios. She didn't even know that was allowed. 
   
   In the conversation that followed, it's impossible to miss the buoyant personalities of both Fishers — Carrie and Gary. 
   
   (And a quick look at the photos will reveal, Carrie Fisher wasn't lying about that tongue.) 
   
   LISTEN: 'Oh, my God, I hear him licking your hand.' 
   
   GROSS: So I have to ask you about your dog Gary who is now a kind of famous dog, and you use him as your profile picture on Twitter. And he's - what kind of dog is he? 
   
   FISHER: He is a French bulldog. 
   
   GROSS: Oh, OK. 
   
   FISHER: And he's right here in the studio with me. 
   
   At it again this morning 🐶📖#garyworkswithhismom #theprincessdiarist #npr #garyinnewyork2016 #garyloveshismom #garyfisher A photo posted by Gary Fisher (@garyfisher) on Nov 22, 2016 at 9:23am PST 
   
   GROSS: Yeah. You get to take him everywhere. It's like — I don't know that they usually let dogs in the NPR studio. You're in the NPR bureau in New York. Is he officially a therapy dog? 
   
   FISHER: Yeah. I — you know, I didn't get him for that, but he's very soothing to have around. He's licking my hand right now. He's just very nice to have around. 
   
   GROSS: Oh, my God, I hear him licking your hand (laughter). 
   
   FISHER: Can you hear him? 
   
   Oh, my God that is such a loud lick. 
   
   GROSS: Yes. 
   
   FISHER: (Laughter). 
   
   GROSS: Let's listen. 
   
   (SOUNDBITE OF DOG LICKING) 
   
   FISHER: (Laughter). 
   
   GROSS: Oh, my God that is such a loud lick (laughter). 
   
   FISHER: Well, he has a very big tongue. 
   
   GROSS: (Laughter). 
   
   toggle caption Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP 
   
   FISHER: Well, at least it's not that wet, but it's a very, very long tongue. 
   
   GROSS: (Laughter) So did you have him certified as a therapy dog, so you could, like, take him onto planes and things like that? 
   
   FISHER: Yes. Yes. So he sits with me on the plane. Frequently, he sits in the chair, and I sit on the ground. 
   
   GROSS: So how did you find him? 
   
   FISHER: I got him here in New York in the village at a very tragic pet store. 
   
   GROSS: And ... 
   
   FISHER: So he looks like he was from like a puppy mill. He's not — everything is sort of wrong with him. 
   
   Enlarge this image toggle caption Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival 
   
   GROSS: (Laughter). So what attracted you to him? 
   
   FISHER: The tongue. No — I don't even know if the tongue was like that when I first got him. It just gradually got longer and longer and never went into his mouth. 
   
   GROSS: I can't believe I still hear him licking you. 
   
   I don't even know if the tongue was like that when I first got him. 
   
   FISHER: He's still licking me. I'll put my hand up. He's very - he follows me everywhere. He's the most well-behaved dog I've ever had, and I didn't train him. He can give you a high five. He sits. He sits like Winston Churchill. 
   
   GROSS: (Laughter). 
   
   FISHER: He really does. I can't even — you have to see — I'll post a picture of what you'll see. 
   
   ... 
   
   GROSS: (Laughter). All right. Carrie Fisher, thank you so much for talking with us. 
   
   FISHER: Well, thanks for talking to me. 
   
   GROSS: And regards to your dog (laughter). Regards to Gary. 
   
   FISHER: I'll lick him for you. 
   
   toggle caption Joel Ryan/Invision/AP 
   
   You can hear the full interview here. ||||| Images via Getty 
   
   While the majority of Hollywood relies on a select handful of publicists to procure the same five designers for their red carpet events, Carrie Fisher did it like she did everything: by her damn self. It must have been funny to her to have been such an icon of the silver screen, and also a writer in a world that tends to Hollywoodize even the most unglamorous and solitary of professions, which is how we get, say, Meryl Streep playing Susan Orlean as immaculate and intellectual and in crisp white shirts to match the garden of freakin’ oleanders around her like a halo. 
   
   
   
   Carrie Fisher wasn’t like that! She dressed for the part of herself exclusively, and it was wonderful. Her best accessory was Gary, her little dog with the uncontrollably wagging tongue, whom she toted everywhere, including late-night appearances—he wasn’t just her best friend, he was her therapy dog, too, a reminder of her fallibility and of our own. But also, his presence was a reminder of the way she consistently bucked convention; at Cannes in May, for instance, she not only flouted its notoriously sexist high-heel mandate for women by donning oxfords and a sensible tweed with a tulip skirt, she doubled down with Gary (and Fisher Stevens, who co-directed her Debbie Reynolds documentary) getting comfortable on the carpet. The French surely blanched; I hope Gary shed a little. 
   
   Fisher’s own writerly looks were generally quirky-sensible with a bit of glam; at the New York Film Festival, she paired eggplant with eggplant, a long scarf and fur atop that; at ComicCon in August, her snake-print cardigan added brightness to sleek black, and her embellished sneakers were a chic topper—they could have been Prada, or Dior, or Donna Karan, or Christopher Kane. 
   
   At the EE British Film Academy Awards, she spoke to us through her handbag and a swathe of painterly stripes; at the premiere of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, with daughter Billie Lourd, she went as a proper schoolgirl, tweed and knee-highs; her The Force Awakens premiere look was crystalline and velvet like a royal would, but she also found time on the carpet to mock standard red-carpet posing, one leg cannily in front of the other, lips pursed. 
   
   At the premiere of Vacation, a statement dress, and a selfie. 
   
   
   
   Advertisement 
   
   Advertisement 
   
   And one of the most iconic fashion moments on television of the past ten years happened at Roseanne Barr’s Comedy Central Roast: she wore a brown pantsuit, tinted eyeglasses, and puffed an e-cig for the duration. And she was funnier than any of the professional comedians on the lineup. 
   
   A Michaelangelo-print blouse; full-body scarf; a silk robe for a pajama party in support of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Every choice was made with whimsy, and to be unmistakably herself. 
   
   And finally, with her mother Debbie Reynolds in a smart patterned blazer as a young girl, proving that she’s maintained this personal flair her whole life. 
   
   Goodnight to a true queen. 
   
   ||||| Enlarge Image Lucasfilm 
   
   When I first saw Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in 1977's "Star Wars: A New Hope," she was fresh-faced and full of confidence and witty comebacks for the roguish rake Han Solo. 
   
   She didn't suffer fools gladly and she often battled Stormtroopers better than the fellas. She killed Jabba the Hutt with a chain, for crying out loud. 
   
   She was the perfect geek girl role model because she was no damsel in distress. Inspired by her, I wore my hair in Princess Leia buns in elementary school yearbook photos. 
   
   But Fisher, who died Tuesday at 60 after suffering a heart attack last week, impacted my life in much bigger ways than my childhood hairdo. And she was so much more than just a Star Wars icon. 
   
   She battled her own personal demons with courage and honesty. She gained strength and insight from her battles with drug and alcohol addiction and bipolar disorder and wrote about these struggles with wit in her memoirs and semi-autobiographical novels -- "Postcards from the Edge," "Wishful Drinking" and most recently, "The Princess Diarist." 
   
   I finally sought therapy to deal with depression after reading about her own mental health struggles. Her memoirs inspired me to write more personal essays. 
   
   In addition to her popular books, Fisher had a successful career as a script doctor during the '90s, working on such films as "Hook," "Sister Act," "Lethal Weapon 3" and "The Wedding Singer." 
   
   Since script doctors are rarely, if ever, credited on the films they save, many fans don't even realize the impact Fisher had on their favorite movies that don't involve lightsaber battles. Even Entertainment Weekly referred to Fisher as "one of the most sought after doctors in town." 
   
   I took screenwriting classes because I wanted to learn skills that Fisher had clearly put to good use as a script doctor. 
   
   Of course, Fisher is best known as Princess Leia from the Star Wars films, but she her acting went way beyond a galaxy far, far away. She made her mark acting in some stellar comedies including "Shampoo," "The Blues Brothers," "The Man with One Red Shoe," "Hannah and Her Sisters," "The 'Burbs" and "When Harry Met Sally." 
   
   Fisher also appeared on numerous popular TV series including "Sex in the City," "The Big Bang Theory," "Entourage," "Family Guy," "Robot Chicken," "30 Rock," "Weeds," "Smallville" and "Frasier," to name a few. 
   
   When I worked at Lucasfilm as a senior editor for the website StarWars.com, I was always honored when my path intersected with Fisher. Sometimes I'd be asked to walk her to panels at San Diego Comic-Con, or just make sure fans didn't get too unruly waiting in line for her autograph. 
   
   One of my favorite memories of Fisher is the time a twenty-something hipster came up to her at one of her Comic-Con signings and demanded she write something unique and personal on a photo of Fisher dressed in her iconic Slave Leia metal bikini. She winked and wrote, "Bite me." 
   
   She always had a funny quip or story and was thrilled when fans would lavish her beloved dog Gary -- who she took with her everywhere -- with love and affection. 
   
   Fisher didn't just pave the way for more beloved female Star Wars characters like Rey ("The Force Awakens") and Jyn Erso ("Rogue One") to inspire a new generation of fans, she also made me proud to be a geek girl who spoke her mind and went after her dreams no matter what challenges life threw my way. And for that I will always be grateful. 
   
   She will be missed, but her Force will be strong in my memory, always. ||||| Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. 
   
   What is this? ||||| (CNN) She may be best known for playing Princess Leia, but Carrie Fisher was so much more than that. Here are seven surprising facts about her: 
   
   She was a sought-after script doctor 
   
   Among the scripts the good doctor rewrote and punched up without credit: "Sister Act" and "Hook." 
   
   Dan Aykroyd saved her life and she almost married him in return 
   
   Story: How she died Story: 7 things you didn't know about her 
   
   Fisher starred in "The Blues Brothers" with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Belushi set her up with Aykroyd (whom she calls Danny, by the way), and after a Brussels sprout-related mishap, the two ended up engaged. "I almost choked on some kind of vegetable that I shouldn't have been eating: Brussels sprouts!" Fisher said . "So he had to give me the Heimlich maneuver. He saved my life, and then he asked me to marry him. And I thought... wow, what if that happens again? I should probably marry him." 
   
   John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Carrie Fisher on the set of The Blues Brothers. 1977 pic.twitter.com/81d2rNkJAB — Laurent Vachaud (@LaurentVachaud) September 1, 2015 
   
   Meryl Streep played HER 
   
   You know you're somebody when Meryl Streep portrays you in a movie. (Ok, it was a movie adaptation of Fisher's autobiography, "Postcards from the Edge." But still, MERYL STREEP!) 
   
   When Meryl Streep was Carrie Fisher 
   
   I'm checking out.#PostcardsFromTheEdgehttps://t.co/EaQEBMaiFU — DrAmor (@CeroPaciencia) December 27, 2016 
   
   Her emoji game was next level 
   
   She had a way with words ... without using them. She tweeted with emojis. 
   
   Her dog was a celebrity in his own right 
   
   Her pup, Gary, strutted his stuff on red carpets and accompanied her on movie sets. 
   
   Me and mommy fighting over the mic. (But really I just wanted her attention). #CarrieFisher #MaytheForcebeWithHer pic.twitter.com/LJSo3D2LV0 — Carrie Fisher's Dog (@Gary_TheDog) December 24, 2016 
   
   And he had the saddest tweet after her death (at least, the Carrie Fisher's Dog Twitter account did, although we don't quite know who runs it) 
   
   Saddest tweets to tweet. Mommy is gone. I love you @carrieffisher — Carrie Fisher's Dog (@Gary_TheDog) December 27, 2016 
   
   She was an awesome/terrible role model 
   
   Okay, so maybe Carrie Fisher isn't the all-around best role model you could have. She was a self-proclaimed drug addict. She had, shall we say, a creative vocabulary. But, at the same time, she was an amazing writer and comic. She survived bipolar disorder that went undiagnosed for much of her life. And she never took herself too seriously: "If my life wasn't funny, it would just be true, and that is unacceptable." And she personified Grrl Power! 
   
   Carrie Fisher. You taught me that being a princess doesn't mean you need to be saved. My heart is broken. #CarrieFisher #RIP — alisonhaislip (@alisonhaislip) December 27, 2016 
   
   Without her, we'd never know there's no underwear in space 
   
   At least, that's what director George Lucas told her on the set of "Star Wars." 
   
   please honor carrie fisher's wishes and include in her obituaries that she "drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra." ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/Pj5sRsIvkz — elisabeth (@threelisabeth) December 27, 2016 
   
   "He explained: You go into space and you become weightless. Then your body expands but your bra doesn't, so you get strangled by your own underwear."
target: – Carrie Fisher died at the age of 60 Tuesday, four days after suffering a major heart attack. Here's how the world is saying goodbye to the writer, actress, and mental-health advocate who will always be Princess Leia to millions: Calling it the "best morning show interview you'll ever see," Digg shares a clip of Fisher appearing with therapy dog Gary on Good Morning America to promote The Force Awakens. "Even the film crew can't stop laughing." Us Magazine remembers Fisher through photos from her life. Vanity Fair remembers when Fisher, in her one-woman show Wishful Drinking, explained why she's not wearing underwear in A New Hope, the answer to which explains why she wanted her obituary to read: "I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra." Celebrities of all stripes are eulogizing Fisher, and io9 is updating a massive list of their tributes to her, including the following from Steven Spielberg: "She didn't need the Force; she was a force of nature." Meanwhile, Jezebel argues Fisher was an unexpected style icon, who recently angered the French by wearing flats and bringing Gary on the Cannes red carpet. "She dressed for the part of herself exclusively, and it was wonderful." Speaking of Gary, NPR says "it's impossible to miss the buoyant personalities of both Fishers" in a recent interview. "He sits with me on the plane," Fisher says. "Frequently, he sits in the chair, and I sit on the ground." CNN has a list of seven things you didn't know about Fisher, including that she's a prolific and well-regarded script doctor, having improved the scripts for Sister Act and Hook, among many others, while also punching up her own Star Wars dialogue. Time has a short piece on Fisher's position as a highly visible advocate for destigmatizing mental illness, having openly discussed her struggles with depression and bipolar disorder. “No motive is pure. No one is good or bad—but a hearty mix of both. And sometimes life actually gives to you by taking away," USA Today quotes Fisher as saying in a list of her best quotes. Finally, Cnet has a personal remembrance of Fisher from a former Lucasfilm employee: "One of my favorite memories of Fisher is the time a twentysomething hipster came up to her at one of her Comic-Con signings and demanded she write something unique and personal on a photo of Fisher dressed in her iconic Slave Leia metal bikini. She winked and wrote, 'Bite me.'"