UPDATE 06/19/17, 12:40 p.m. According to the coroner's report, Carrie Fisher died from sleep apnea and a combination of other factors. Another release from last Friday also mentioned that Fisher had drugs in her system at the time of her death, but officials could not determine whether those played a role in her death.
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On December 27, 2016, the world lost the beloved Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher. The hospital paperwork said the cause was a heart attack, then the L.A. County Medical Examiner's office told Entertainment Tonight that other conditions including sleep apnea, drug use, and atherosclerotic heart disease contributed to her death. And on Friday, June 16, Carrie's daughter Billie Lourd shared an emotional statement about the causes of her passing.
"My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it," she said in the statement to People. Carrie had Bipolar Disorder and often spoke about it in interviews. One of the last things she did before she died was to advise someone else with the condition in her advice column for The Guardian. "You reached out to me – that took courage," she wrote. "Now build on that. Move through those feelings and meet me on the other side. As your bipolar sister, I’ll be watching."
Lourd's statement also talked about her mom's work destigmatizing mental health issues and why such work remains important. "She talked about the shame that torments people and their families confronted by these diseases," she said. "I know my Mom, she’d want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles. Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programs. Shame and those social stigmas are the enemies of progress to solutions and ultimately a cure. Love you Momby."
Related: Billie Lourd Posted a Tribute to Carrie Fisher on Star Wars Day
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