Six years after her death, beloved actor Carrie Fisher is being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
May 4 is also known to fans as Star Wars day, as "May the fourth" plays on the iconic series quote "May the force be with you." Fisher was known for her starring role as Princess Leia in the series, which has become a cultural touchstone in American history.
Fisher died on December 27, 2016, leaving behind a legacy defined not only by her performances, but by her fierce feminism and advocacy. She was a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ and women's rights in a time period considered to be much more hostile than that of today.
Despite the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, Fisher was open about her experiences caring for friends who had AIDS, and even hosted a benefit for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. She was also outspoken about about her struggles with Bipolar Disorder, alcoholism, and addiction in a time where the subjects were considered taboo.
In 2016, Harvard College awarded Fisher its Annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism, saying that "her forthright activism and outspokenness about addiction, mental illness, and agnosticism have advanced public discourse on these issues with creativity and empathy."
Fisher also pushed back against the sexualization of her character Leia, and the unrealistic beauty standards required of women in Hollywood. In the most recent Star Wars trilogy, she famously appeared without age-altering CGI, and warned her younger co-star Daisy Ridley not to give in to degrading demands.
"Don’t be a slave like I was ... You keep fighting against that slave outfit," she said in a joint interview with Salon, referencing the infamous bikini Princess Leia wore in Return of the Jedi.
The decision to honor Fisher with a Walk-of-Fame star was announced in June 2021. Both of her Star Wars lead co-stars, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, have already received one. Fisher's will be unveiled today, May 4, at 11:30 a.m. PT, and will sit just a few feet from Hamill's.
Following the initial announcement, Hamill wrote that the honor was "long overdue and so well-deserved."
