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Home / Entertainment

Star Wars star Carrie Fisher suffers massive heart attack on international flight

NZ Herald
24 Dec, 2016 06:21 AM7 mins to read

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Star Wars star Carrie Fisher has reportedly suffered a massive heart attack on an international plane flight. Photo / AP

Star Wars star Carrie Fisher has reportedly suffered a massive heart attack on an international plane flight. Photo / AP

Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher is receiving treatment in an intensive care unit after suffering a heart attack on a flight, according to her brother.

Todd Fisher said today that his sister is receiving excellent care, but that he could not classify her condition.

He had earlier told The Associated Press that she had been stabilized and was out of the emergency room.

In a subsequent interview he said many details about her condition or what caused the medical emergency are unknown.

Carrie Fisher, 60, experienced medical trouble during a flight from London and was treated by paramedics immediately after the plane landed in Los Angeles, according to reports citing unnamed sources.

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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.

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"We have so little information ourselves."Fisher's publicists and representatives for her mother, Debbie Reynolds, and her daughter, Billie Lourd, did not immediately return calls from the AP.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said paramedics administered advanced life-saving care to a patient at Los Angeles International Airport Friday and transported the person to a nearby hospital.

He did not identify the patient.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 is considered by many to be a member of Hollywood royalty - her parents are Reynolds and the late singer Eddie Fisher.

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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.

Her thinly veiled autobiography "Postcards from the Edge" was adapted into a 1987 film version starring Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep.

She also transformed her one-woman show "Wishful Drinking," which played on Broadway and was filmed for HBO, into a book.

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."

Fisher 'stopped breathing for ten minutes'

TMZ reported Fisher went into cardiac arrest on the flight from London to Los Angeles.

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Other passengers helped administer CPR until the plane landed and Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics rushed on board and took Fisher to hospital, TMZ reported.

TMZ has reported that emergency paramedics who were working on her shortly after the plane landed had "found a pulse".

They administered CPR for 15 minutes before the pulse was detected, a source said.

Fisher is being treated at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre, where is she is on a ventilator.

Friends of Fisher and other Hollywood stars are tweeting their support for the Star Wars princess.

"As if 2016 couldn't get any worse," tweeted Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the films.

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as if 2016 couldn't get any worse... sending all our love to @carrieffisher

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 23, 2016

William Shatner of Star Trek fame tweeted a plea for support for Fisher.

I ask everyone to stop for a moment and send special thoughts to @carrieffisher.

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) December 23, 2016

Sorority Boys actor Michael Rosenbaum asked for prayers.

I'm devastated. Everyone send their prayers to my good friend @carrieffisher - I know she'll pull through. @LourdBillie @DaveMirkin

— Michael Rosenbaum (@michaelrosenbum) December 23, 2016

Peter Mayhew, or Chewbacca, tweeted:

Thoughts and prayers for our friend and everyone's favorite princess right now.. @carrieffisher

— Peter Mayhew Foundation (@TheWookieeRoars) December 23, 2016

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department has spoken about the dramatic scenes on the plane as paramedics tried to save Fisher's life after it landed.

"At 12:11 pm the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call from LAX for a patient in cardiac arrest," the spokesman told USA Today.

"Firefighter paramedics provided advanced life support and aggressively treated the patient whom was transported to a local hospital."United Airlines has also said the crew of Flight 935 had reported a passenger had become unresponsive as the plane neared LA.

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"Our thoughts are with our customer at this time," the airline said.

Fisher became a global movie star after playing Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Hans Solo ( Harrison Ford ) and Princess Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) in the original Star Wars movie. Photo / Supplied / AP
Hans Solo ( Harrison Ford ) and Princess Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) in the original Star Wars movie. Photo / Supplied / AP

She has recently been on a book tour.

Fisher, 60, was one of the three main stars of the original Star Wars movies, with Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.

The trio reunited for last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

She is also a member of the cast of next year's Star Wars: Episode VIII which is currently in production.

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Fisher was travelling from London to the US on a United Airlines flight.

In a series of tweets, fellow actress Anna Akana wrote of the drama that unfolded mid-flight.

"Don't know how else to process this but Carrie Fisher stopped breathing on the flight home. Hope she's gonna be OK," she wrote.

"So many thanks to the United flight crew who jumped into action, and the awesome doctor and nurse passengers who helped."

In a wide ranging interview with Rolling Stone magazine published late last month, Fisher opened up about her fear of dying, having an affair with a then-married Ford, why she still loves the music of her ex-husband Paul Simon and the trappings of fame after the Star Wars trilogy.

"I fear dying. Anything with pain associated with it, I don't like," she told Rolling Stone when asked if she feared death.

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"I've been there for a couple of people when they were dying; it didn't look like fun. But if I was gonna do it, I'd want someone like me around. And I will be there!"

She also talked about fame and the adulation which followed her appearance in the first Star Wars movie, then Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

"The best part is money, travelling and the people you meet. The worst part is, again, money, travel and the people you meet," she responded when asked for the best and worst parts of success.

In the interview, Fisher spoke openly about her relationship with Harrison during filming of the Star Wars movie. The affair also features prominently in her latest book, The Princess Diarist.

The book is based on diaries Fisher wrote during her acting heyday.

Fisher said she had warned Harrison about the contents of the book before it was published.

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"Yeah. I told him I found the diaries, which I had not seen since I'd written them and that I was gonna publish them," she told Rolling Stone.

"He just said, 'lawyer'. I told him he could take out anything he didn't like. I sent it to him, but he never commented. I guess he didn't loathe anything. I know the whole thing embarrasses him. That's what it's for, to embarrass all of us again."

The pair had never previously confirmed their much-rumoured relationship.

When asked if she felt a sense of relief about the truth finally being out there, she told Rolling Stone: "No. It's just some big overgrown cat out a bag that could have stayed closed, I suppose. But people have been speculating about it, though it was not something we ever discussed. It was just this elephant in the room. And to this day I feel nervous around him."

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