Carrie Fisher, the actress perhaps best known as Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars saga has passed away at the age of 60 following a heart attack.
Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, confirmed the news:
“It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning,” reads the statement.
“She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,” says Lourd, 24. “Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”
Fisher suffered a heart attack while on board a plane bound for Los Angeles from London. After landing, she was immediately rushed to the hospital and treated for cardiac arrest. A few days later, however, she died.
The daughter of entertainers Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie experienced a tumultuous childhood, eventually turning to substance abuse as an escape. Fisher’s relationship with her mother was documented in the 1987 bestselling, semi-autobiographical novel, Postcards from the Edge, which was later turned into a movie starring Meryl Streep.