Carrie Fisher

Carrie: Star Wars taught me everything: how to shoot a gun. How to have my breasts taped. I had the time of my life - and the time of yours.

(discussing her thoughts on Harrison Ford while making "Star Wars") Carrie: I had a crush on Harrison for sure. Harrison is great fun when he's had a few drinks. I'm going to get in so much trouble. Once I left the room and came back and he was in the closet not wearing a lot of clothes ...

(on her writing) Carrie: It's very cathartic for me when I can write about whatever's happened. I'm a warhorse; if I have a situation that's bad, I can handle it. But I can handle it best when I joke about it. That's my writing.

(in a 1983 "Playboy" interview, Carrie was asked if she had earned more money on "Star Wars" than her parents throughout their careers) Carrie: I think Andy Warhol started that rumor. People like it. It sounds good. I'd like it if I weren't me. I could call and get an accountant and figure it out. My mother made 53 films and did night-club work. They didn't get paid as much as we do now; but, no, it's not true. I've been working for only eight years.

(on what a future book might cover) Carrie: When I was in Star Wars, I kept diaries. Big books full of what went on, what I thought, what I did. I am going to write them all up as a narrative.

(on how her knowledge of filmaking improved over the years) Carrie: When I started doing Star Wars, I couldn't figure out what the hell the producer did. I used to watch Gary Kurtz hang around the set and I would make fun of him. I would say, 'Are you producing now? What are you doing?' ... It took me years to figure out that they assemble the picture and hire the [staff].

(on who was the great love of her life) Carrie: It's gonna have to be, in some freaked out planet of darkness, Paul Simon. [They were together for 13 years.] And a little bit of Bryan [her daughter's father]; the people I spent time with. But there really hasn't been one. Not really.

(on Tom Cruise's comments on psychiatry) Carrie: if I find someone that is a gifted anything, a psychiatrist, a podiatrist, a philosopher, a reporter, an actor, a writer, that's going to be interesting. They're going to have something to contribute. I think to completely say, "I don't believe in psychiatry…well I don't believe in scientology!" I'm sure in some whacked out world even that has something of value to offer somebody.

Carrie Fisher: I was still wrangling with my moods, and I was living in a house, which is a lot of responsibility. I had a child, and for her sake I was trying to act as if I hadn't been hurt by her father, who had left me for a man. I was hiding, and I am not used to doing that.

Carrie Fisher: I'm fine, but I'm bipolar. I'm on seven medications, and I take medication three times a day. This constantly puts me in touch with the illness I have. I'm never quite allowed to be free of that for a day. It's like being a diabetic.

Carrie Fisher: I spent a year in a 12-step program, really committed, because I could not believe what had happened - that I might have killed myself.

Carrie Fisher: I don't want to be thought of as a survivor because you have to continue getting involved in difficult situations to show off that particular gift, and I'm not interested in doing that anymore.

Carrie Fisher: I always like to start off with a strong opener. I didn't have that line until I'd written a lot of the book because I sort of started writing it from the mental hospital out.

Carrie Fisher: Bipolar disorder can be a great teacher. It's a challenge, but it can set you up to be able to do almost anything else in your life.

Carrie Fisher: A lot of what's wrong with me is, I feel like, a bank error in my favor. It can be fantastic. Whenever I read about it in other books, it's very, very heavy and awful. I was trying to get to the positive side.