Carrie Fisher — How The ‘Star Wars’ Revival Killed The Troubled Actress

Carrie had once dreamed of putting acting behind her for a "traditional marriage" to songwriter Paul Simon — proclaiming that her acting career was over with 1983's "Return of the Jedi." The hit sci-fi series made her an overnight success with the original "Star Wars" in 1977, including a hosting turn on "Saturday Night Live" that would send her into addiction.

In the biography "Wired," investigative journalist Bob Woodward blamed SNL star John Belushi for introducing Carrie to LSD and Wild Turkey bourbon — during a period when Carrie had sworn off alcohol. Carrie even had a running joke of simply saying "Hey, give me some" to Belushi, with the hard-partying funnyman then sharing the cocaine he always carried.

By the time that Carrie was filming "The Empire Strikes Back," she was doing cocaine on the set. "I didn’t even like coke that much," she later admitted. "It was just a case of getting on whatever train I needed to take to get high." By then, even Belushi had warned Carrie about her cocaine habit — and she'd soon have a good reason to turn her life around.

The "Saturday Night Live" crowd also introduced her to Paul Simon.  Carrie announced that she was ready to end her wild years in 1983 — without telling anyone that she was pregnant. "I love making movies," she declared, "but there just comes a time when you want to have a life away from it." But after a miscarriage, Carrie was soon back to doing drugs as a single gal.

In 1985, The National ENQUIRER caught Carrie finally going into rehab — telling insiders that she was terrified that she'd turn into a "pathetic wreck" like her father! Former radio crooner Eddie Fisher had made headlines when he ditched Carrie's mom, Debbie Reynolds, for Elizabeth Taylor in 1959. Then the drug-addicted singer came begging to his grown daughter for a $100,000 loan.

"I saw clearly for the first time what a pathetic wreck he had become," Carrie told a close friend, "and I suddenly realized that I could end up the same way. If I don't get control of myself, I'll end up just like him!" The actress entered a Los Angeles drug center to battle her cocaine and Percodan addiction. She then launched a successful career as a novelist with 1987's "Postcards from the Edge."

Sadly, Carrie couldn't give up her acting career — and the pressures of going before the cameras. A 1989 comeback in "When Harry Met Sally" was quickly derailed by a relapse. The low-budget comedy "She's Back" even showed Carrie clearly being high onscreen. By 1997, The ENQUIRER caught her back in the psychiatric ward of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after taking an antidepressant drug — and suffering what sources say was a "manic episode."

Carrie was monitored around the clock by private nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Carrie said she was suffering from manic depression," says a hospital insider. "She had days when she was quiet and depressed and wouldn't talk to anybody," said a source, "and days when she was deliriously happy and talking nonstop...She was constantly on the phone to her friends, joking, 'I'm in the nuthouse.'"

Once again, though, Carrie found inspiration in her troubles. She had more hits with best-selling memoirs, including "Wishful Drinking" and "Shockaholic." But then she got the call to return to a relaunched "Star Wars" franchise. The pressure of reprising her role as Princess Leia — now an intergalactic military leader — quickly had her back in the throes of addiction.

The ENQUIRER first reported that Carrie had relapsed in 2014, just as she returned before the cameras for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Carrie denied the shocking bombshell reports. One reporter even asked her if she was back on drugs while sitting in her car outside the home of a reputed drug dealer — with Carrie insisting: "No, darling!"

In truth, Carrie was stressed out over her return to the franchise — with insiders later insisting that she'd turned to drugs after being pressured to lose weight for the new "Star Wars" movie. “She’s gone beyond anorexia!” warned top New York internist Dr. Stuart Fischer in May 2016, just months before her sudden death by heart attack.

The coroner's report would confirm The ENQUIRER's reporting on Carrie's renewed addiction — with cocaine, heroin and ecstasy found in her system. The official cause of death remained "sleep apnea and other undetermined causes." That included "multiple drug intake, significance not ascertained." The first anniversary of her death was marked by the release of her final film — returning as General Leia in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."