Carrie Fisher Allegedly Faced Sexist Pressure Before She Died

One would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t believe that Carrie Fisher is and forever will be the actor for the Princess Leia role. From the original trilogy to the sequels, she played the Rebel figurehead to perfection, balancing her diplomatic and action-oriented sides in addition to delivering Leia’s best sassy one-liners like no one else could. Of course, she sadly had to endure some of Hollywood’s worst tendencies along the way, particularly when it comes to the matter of body image. As she told Today, she was told to lose weight to play Leia in 1977’s “Star Wars,” despite being 19 years old and weighing just over 100 pounds at the time (via Telegraph).

Even as the industry changed and she reached icon status, Fisher still had people telling her to change her body. “They don’t want to hire all of me –- only about three-quarters! Nothing changes: it’s an appearance-driven thing. I’m in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance,” she told Good Housekeeping in 2015, joking that she might as well have been told to somehow be younger too. She added that the culture around Hollywood is too fixated on appearance, even in the most minor of interactions. “Everyone in LA says, “‘Oh you look good,’ and you listen for them to say you’ve lost weight. It’s never ‘How are you?’ or ‘You seem happy!'” Fisher said.

Evidently, the entertainment world has an unhealthy obsession with how peoples’ bodies look, even if you’re a legend like Carrie Fisher. One can only hope that these pressures disappear in the future, allowing actors to be comfortable in their own skin while doing what they do best on set.