Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd opens up about her mother’s battle with drugs
Carrie Fisher’s daughter has opened up about her mother’s long battle with drug addiction.
Billie Lourd has written a moving statement recognising her mother’s struggle with mental health.
It was revealed this week that the Star Wars actress had cocaine in her system when she died, according to an autopsy.
The Princess Leia actress also had trace amounts of morphine and ecstasy in her system.
Lourd said: “My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life.
“She ultimately died of it,” actress Billie Lourd wrote in the statement.
“She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases.
Lourd went on: “She talked about the shame that torments people and their families confronted by these diseases.
“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.”
Last week a coroner ruled that Fisher had died from sleep apnoea – a condition whereby air cannot get into the lungs properly during sleep or when you are unconscious.
The autopsy revealed that Fisher could have taken cocaine in the days leading up to her cardiac arrest onboard a flight from London to the US.
It is not clear whether the drugs contributed to her death, however.
“Based on the available toxicological information, we cannot establish the significance of the multiple substances that were detected in Ms Fisher’s blood and tissue, with regard to the cause of death,” the report states.
The coroner found Fisher also had a buildup of fatty tissue in her arteries, a common cause of cardiac arrest.
The star died on 23 December, followed by her mother Debbie Reynolds just a day later.
