'Star Wars' fans mourn loss of their princess

This April 7, 2011 file photo shows Carrie Fisher at the 2011 NewNowNext Awards in Los Angeles. Fisher, who played Princess Leia in 'Star Wars,' has died at age 60, her daughter's publicist says. / AP - Yonhap

By Lee Jin-a

Many Star Wars fans are in deep mourning after learning that their Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher, 60, died Tuesday.

The actress had a massive heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles on Dec. 23, according to reports.

Fisher, who debuted in 1975 in the film “Shampoo,” played Princess Leia in the sci-fi blockbuster series “Star Wars” at the age of 20. Leia was the most loved character in her acting career.

But Fisher was so much more than an onscreen princess.

She was an outspoken feminist who fought sexism and ageism.

Throughout her career, Fisher never hid her struggles with mental illness and drug use, admitting that she had abused cocaine during the filming of “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980).

“Fisher easily could have fit a really predictable mold — a pretty girl who played a princess in a movie once,” said Sady Doyle, author of "Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock and Fear,” in an interview with NBC News. “But she always insisted on being more than that. She just never let anyone make her smaller or less complex than she was; she owned herself, and that's one of the most important and difficult feminist projects there is."

From left, Star Wars actors Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew take a break from filming a television special in Los Angeles, October 5, 1978. / AP - Yonhap

The veteran actress also publicly criticized the Hollywood system that often requires actresses to wear sexy costumes.

Talking about Princess Leia’s bikini outfit in “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983),” Fisher advised her co-star Daisy Ridley of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)” not to follow her example.

She said: "Don't be a slave like I was ... You keep fighting against that slave outfit.”

Fisher also denounced the producers who demanded she look young and beautiful.

"I'm in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. “That is so messed up. They might as well say 'get younger,' because that's how easy it is.”

Fisher was one of the first actresses who taught girls in the 1970s that it is OK to be strong and independent. With the role of Princess Leia, she broke the rule that princesses should be passive and subordinate to men, waiting for rescue from a powerful male hero.

“Carrie was one of a kind ... brilliant, original. Funny and emotionally fearless,” Harrison Ford, the co-star of “Star Wars,” said. “She lived her life bravely … We will all miss her.”