Carrie Fisher, Feminist Icon: Mental Health Advocate, Author And Actress Inspired Many

Carrie Fisher, who died Tuesday at 60 years old, may have been best known as the actress who played General Leia Organa, a seminal character in the space opera Star Wars. But she was also a beloved author, a fierce advocate for removing the stigma surrounding mental issues and a feminist icon for many women.

With incredible wit, she spoke out regularly on issues of inequality for women. Forever tied to the Leia character, Fisher was quick to point out how the princess-turned-general was the unrelenting leader of a rebellion in a movie with many male characters.

"I got to be the only girl in an all boy fantasy, and it's a great role for women," Fisher said in a CBC interview. "She's a very proactive character and gets the job done. So if you're going to get typecast as something, that might as well be it for me."

In part for her role as Leia, but really for a life devoted to doing good work, Fisher was a hero to many, including actress Tina Fey, who worked with Fisher briefly on the show "30 Rock."

"Carrie Fisher meant a lot to me," Fey told Time Magazine. "Like many women my age, Princess Leia occupies about sixty percent of my brain at any given time. But Carrie's honest writing and her razor-sharp wit were an even greater gift. I feel so lucky that I got to meet her. I'm very sad she is gone."

Fisher, who during her life struggled with drug addiction and bipolar disorder, was a tireless advocate for de-stigmatizing mental health issues. She wrote about the subject in her books and talked about it publicly often. Harvard College's Humanist Club honored Fisher with a lifetime achievement award this year and stressed her work served those suffering from similar issues.

"Ms. Fisher's work humanizes a popular culture obsessed with celebrity, and helps readers laugh at the absurdity of contemporary society and relationships," the group wrote in a statement. "Her forthright activism and outspokenness about addiction, mental illness and agnosticism have advanced public discourse on these issues with creativity and empathy."