Best wishes pour in for Carrie Fisher after medical emergency
Tributes and well-wishes poured in for “Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher, who was spending Christmas in intensive care at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a medical emergency on a flight Friday evening.
Todd Fisher, the actress’ brother, said his sister is receiving excellent care, but little information about her condition was known to the public.
“Princess Leia can survive anything!” wrote one fan on Twitter. “Hold on, Carrie Fisher. We’re taking you into 2017 with us,” wrote another.
Her “Star Wars” co-star Mark Hamill quipped, “as if 2016 couldn’t get any worse...” and said he was “sending all our love.”
Fans on Twitter fervently hoped she would pull through. One wrote: “Carrie Fisher survived alcoholism, addiction, depression, bipolar disorder & 60 years in Hollywood. If anyone can survive 2016, it’s her.”
Another put it bluntly: “DON’T YOU ... DARE TOUCH CARRIE FISHER, 2016.”
The actress’ former co-star Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in “Star Wars,” said he was “sending prayers,”and called her “everyone’s favorite princess right now.”
And Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo opposite Fisher, in a statement said: “I’m shocked and saddened to hear the news about my dear friend. Our thoughts are with Carrie, her family and friends.”
Fisher, 60, experienced a medical emergency during a Friday flight from London and was treated by paramedics immediately after the plane landed in Los Angeles.
On audio released from the flight, the pilot of the plane can be heard telling air traffic control, “We have an unresponsive passenger.”
Celebrity website TMZ, which first reported the incident, said anonymous sources told them the actress suffered a heart attack.
Todd Fisher said much of what had been reported about the incident was speculation. “We have to wait and be patient,” he said. “We have so little information ourselves.”
A large gathering of media personnel was camped outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles hospital, where TMZ and the Los Angeles Times reported she had been taken.
Fisher’s publicists and representatives for her mother, Debbie Reynolds, and her daughter, Billie Lourd, did not return calls from the AP.
Fisher is considered by many to be a member of Hollywood royalty — her parents are Reynolds and the late singer Eddie Fisher.
Catapulted to stardom as Princess Leia in 1977’s “Star Wars,” Carrie Fisher reprised the role as the leader of a galactic rebellion in three sequels, including last year’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
The author and actress may be best known for her portrayal of Leia, but she is also an accomplished writer known for no-holds-barred accounts of her struggles with addiction and mental illness.
Most recently, Fisher has been promoting her latest book, “The Princess Diarist,” in which she reveals that she and co-star Harrison Ford had an affair on the set of “Star Wars.”
