After news of Carrie Fisher’s heart attack Friday, speculation has surfaced surrounding her health and that dramatic weight loss leading up the incident.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Star Wars actress suffered a “cardiac episode” while on a flight from London to Los Angeles on Friday. She was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center, where she was stabilized and is in the ICU.
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Fisher has struggled with her weight publicly as far back as 2011 when she was a spokesperson for Jenny Craig. At the time, she was 180 pounds in a 5’ 1” frame. “I’m fat. All the clothes in my closet belong to another chick,” she bluntly told People back then. “They have to make a new alphabet for my bra size.” The weight gain came when she was on tour, thanks to unhealthy habits like regularly drinking soda and eating tons of peanut butter protein bars. That’s when she decided to lose 30 pounds on her own terms. She used diet and exercise to drop it. Elliptical workouts, water and Jenny Craig snacks like cookies and popcorn were what she credits to dropping the weight. “I feel much better,” she told the magazine. “My blood pressure is down and I can stand on a doctor scale.”
But then, while promoting Star Wars: The Forces Awakens this past year, she opened up to Good Housekeeping about the pressure to lose 35 pounds for the film. “They don’t want to hire all of me – only about three-quarters!” she told the magazine. “Nothing changes: it’s an appearance-driven thing.” Which she explained bothered her in a more complicated way than the pressure to be young and attractive in Hollywood. “When I do lose the weight, I don’t like that it makes me feel good about myself,” she admitted. “It’s not who I am.” And how did she lose that 35 pounds? “I did it the same way everybody has to – don’t eat and exercise more!” she told the magazine.
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So if she was working out and eating healthier, what could’ve caused the heart attack? No one’s knows anything for certain yet. “If everyone could just pray for her that would be good,” her brother Todd Fisher told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m sure everyone wants to speculate, but now is not the time for that.”
In the meantime, thoughts and prayers have been spilling out all over social media. With tweets from fellow Star Wars co-stars and family.
Use the force babe?❤️ pic.twitter.com/WVy6vG8ewc
— Joely Fisher (@MsJoelyFisher) December 24, 2016
Thoughts and prayers for our friend and everyone’s favorite princess right now.. @carrieffisher
— Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) December 23, 2016
as if 2016 couldn’t get any worse… sending all our love to @carrieffisher
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 23, 2016