Carrie Fisher predicted the ageism she would face in 2011 memoir

'I had signed an invisible contract to stay looking the exact same way for the next thirty to forty years'

Olivia Blair
Saturday 02 January 2016 16:30 GMT
Comments

Carrie Fisher has long been a champion of ageism, even before her recent defiant comments in response to criticism of her appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Earlier this week Fisher, 59, was forced to defend herself on Twitter against the constant discussion and scrutiny over whether she has “aged well” in the Star Wars sequel.

She asked her 850,000 followers to stop the debate as it hurts “all 3 of [her] feelings” and shared her sentiments that “youth and beauty are not accomplishments, they’re the temporary happy”.

A few days later she returned to Twitter to sarcastically respond to a columnist who suggested she should change professions if she doesn’t want the judgement over her appearance.

Amid the furore, fans of the actress have begun sharing a passage from Fisher’s 2011 memoir Shockaholic, which reads as if she anticipated the trolling she would face should she return to cinema screens.

“What I didn’t realise, back when I was this twenty-five-year-old pinup for geeks in that me myself and iconic metal bikini, was that I had signed an invisible contract to stay looking the exact same way for the next thirty to forty years.

“Well, clearly I’ve broken that contract,” she wrote.

Ageism in Hollywood has been a prominent talking point over the last year or so. A notable moment was when 37-year-old Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed she was considered too old to play the lover of a 55-year-old male actor.

In May, Jane Fonda, 78, said “ageism is alive and well” and described how there are no roles for a woman of her age but there are for men as they “become more desirable by being powerful”, whereas for women “it’s all about how we look”.

Fisher starred in the original Star Wars film, A New Hope in 1977. She also had notable roles in The Blues Brothers and When Harry Met Sally.

She returned to Star Wars as Princess Leia 38 years after the first film for The Force Awakens which has smashed a number of records since its release.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in