Carrie Fisher Dies After Heart Attack

membership ticker

Autocratic forces are ascendant.

Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against an autocrat’s unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought, bent, or broken. Depend on it, and please stand with us.

Autocratic forces are ascendant in America. But truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against the unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought or broken. Please stand with us.

Carrie Fisher at the 2011 NewNowNext Awards in Los Angeles.Chris Pizzello/AP Photo

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Actress Carrie Fisher has died after suffering a massive heart attack last Friday. She was 60 years old.

Fisher, who was known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, starred in several films and TV shows and wrote books about her struggle with substance abuse, including the bestseller Postcards from the Edge. She went into cardiac arrest when she was flying to Los Angeles from London, where she was promoting her new memoir, The Princess Diarist. She died in the hospital today.