The Princess and the Shock Therapy

Writer, actor and eternal princess Carrie Fisher was born on this day in 1956.

Though she will always be Star Wars’ Princess Leia to many of us, Fisher was born a Hollywood princess. The daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, some would say she was born royal. But Writer’s Almanac brings us Fisher the writer:

“By the time I was 13, maybe even younger, I would write to calm myself down,” Fisher recalled in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “I had an overflowing of words. And I realized that if I put things down on paper I could get out from the emotions and organize myself. I kept diaries. The writing compulsion emerged at about the same time as the bipolar condition appeared.”

Her literary breakthrough came in 1987, with Postcards from the Edge, a semi-autobiographical novel. She also wrote the screenplay for the 1990 film, which starred Meryl Streep as a drug-addicted actress, and Shirley MacLaine as her mother, a former musical comedy darling.

A new memoir, Shockaholic (Simon & Schuster), debuts in November. We have yet to read it, but the reviews thus far are not stellar. “Not exactly electrifying reading,” complains Kirkus, going for the easy shot (one of the things Fisher talks about in the book is electric shock therapy). We’ll hold judgment, but make a request of the author: isn’t it please time for another novel?

Happy Birthday!