0:00:01 > 0:00:05we're replaying an interview she gave to Hardtalk 16 years ago.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17In the words of my guest, she had the classic Hollywood
0:00:17 > 0:00:20upbringing in a beautiful, but broken home.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23There followed a star role in Star Wars, and the obligatory
0:00:23 > 0:00:26going off the rails with drugs and divorce.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Now she says she's a single parent with a dysfunctional
0:00:29 > 0:00:30family all of her own.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32How is she now?
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Carrie Fisher, a very warm welcome to the programme.
0:00:35 > 0:00:36And welcome to London.
0:00:36 > 0:00:37Thank you.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42You used to say that you would move here.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45I would love to live here, but I have to get clearance
0:00:45 > 0:00:48from my ex, because we share custody with my daughter.
0:00:48 > 0:00:48You know.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52So I would not want to take my daughter away from her father.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54I grew up without a father, so...
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Listening to those words which you said of yourself in a BBC
0:00:57 > 0:01:00documentary a short time ago, it sounds as though
0:01:00 > 0:01:08you can almost stand
0:01:08 > 0:01:11back from your life and look at it as an outsider.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15Well, it's much better to stand back from it than to find yourself
0:01:15 > 0:01:17in the middle of it all the time.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21From bits of my life, you know, it's better to stand back from it.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23The obligatory going off the rails, did you say?
0:01:23 > 0:01:24Yes, your words.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Yes, I've done that a couple of times.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28But I've done non-obligatory things as well.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Does the fact that you played Princess Leia in Star Wars,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33does that still follow you around?
0:01:33 > 0:01:35I guess so, you just brought it up.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37People stop you in airports and in the street?
0:01:37 > 0:01:39They'll sometimes even call me Princess Leia,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42which, you want to say, "How dumb do I look?"
0:01:42 > 0:01:45But you wouldn't want to hear the answer to that.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47They will say Princess Leia, like I'll go "Yeah?
0:01:47 > 0:01:57Oh".
0:01:57 > 0:01:58Do you like it?
0:01:58 > 0:01:58It's all right.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02If I didn't like it, it would set me up for a bad life,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05so yeah, it's nice and it's nice for kids.
0:02:05 > 0:02:06It's nice for my kid.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10When you were 19, you said you didn't know how to be famous.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Did I say that?
0:02:11 > 0:02:13I certainly had a better idea than most people,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16given that I'd watched my parents as closely as I could.
0:02:16 > 0:02:17Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19I think that's who they are.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Oh, no, is it them?
0:02:21 > 0:02:26How awful!
0:02:26 > 0:02:28I mean, they bred and had children...
0:02:28 > 0:02:29Oh, no.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Wait till I tell my brother.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32I didn't know.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34I don't think you ever know how to be famous.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37There's no sort of school that prepares you for it.
0:02:37 > 0:02:45It's different in any era.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49And when you could go to any toy store in the land and see
0:02:49 > 0:02:53plastic dolls of you, what does that do to someone at the age of 19?
0:02:53 > 0:02:54It was very pleasant.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56It's very pleasant now I'm a Pez dispenser.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00I couldn't be more proud to see my head flip back and a thing
0:03:00 > 0:03:02come out of my neck.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05They don't have to get permission from me to do these things.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06Does the money...
0:03:06 > 0:03:07I don't get money!
0:03:07 > 0:03:09I signed my likeness away, which is quite
0:03:09 > 0:03:10a vampiric thing to do.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13But you got quite a bit of money out
0:03:13 > 0:03:14of the Star Wars trilogy.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Yeah, but none of it's left now, so I have to make a living writing.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19But yes, I did.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22I have no reason to complain about anything, except these shoes.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24They look all right to me.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26There were tours.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29They must have been enormous fun, going out on tour, doing
0:03:29 > 0:03:32the press tours and running off to the amusement parks.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34It was fun.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37I mean, I'm someone that comes away with hideous anecdotes
0:03:37 > 0:03:41about Harrison and Mark.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Oh, do share them.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Oh, yes, I will.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49As soon as we go off, I'll tell you.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54What was hideous about them?
0:03:54 > 0:03:56We grew up together.
0:03:56 > 0:03:57We became famous together. So...
0:03:57 > 0:03:59You get tired of talking about it.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02We were sort of launched into the public eye at the same time.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05So the difficulty was, I thought Harrison did so well.
0:04:05 > 0:04:14I was 20 and he was 33 or 34 when the film came out,
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and Harrison was really good doing interviews.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19He'd taken philosophy in college, so he would quote philosophers
0:04:19 > 0:04:22liberally in his interviews.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25I wanted to do that, so when I got back from the junket,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I got tutored in philosophy so that I could quote philosophers
0:04:28 > 0:04:29when referring to Harrison.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31You had a huge crush on him.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32I did.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34Well, I started a trend, didn't I?
0:04:35 > 0:04:35Unrequited? I hope so.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Would I tell you if it wasn't?
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Look at him, does it look like he would have a crush on me?
0:04:42 > 0:04:45How hideous were these things that you went through with him?
0:04:45 > 0:04:46Nothing was really hideous.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Really, I was post-adolescence, so, you know, my
0:04:48 > 0:04:49emotional world was much
0:04:49 > 0:04:50more raw than anybody else's.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55It still is.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Sounds as though you had a lot of fun.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59We did.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03You were amazed at the lines.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05We used to drive by and look at them and...
0:05:05 > 0:05:08And think "How did we ever get to be so famous?"
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Yes.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12I don't know how you can ask that question.
0:05:13 > 0:05:19It was just so surreal.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22I was quite used to surreal anyway, though.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25What's the legacy of Star Wars for you, do you think?
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Oh, I get to have a very young mother that I haven't
0:05:28 > 0:05:30had since I was very young, so that's nice.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36I have no idea.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38My daughter carries around a folder of Princess Leia,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40and it follows me around for ever.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45That hair, weird clothes, no brassieres.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47I mean, I don't know.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51It would be very difficult to encapsulate what it all was.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54They thought at seven stone that you were too heavy, didn't they?
0:05:54 > 0:05:54Mmm-hmm.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Must have been a shock.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01No, I always thought I was too heavy, though.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04I mean, I had that thing where I looked in the mirror
0:06:04 > 0:06:06and saw this giant.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Bowl of oatmeal with features, I used to call my face.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10So I completely agreed with them.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14I was too heavy.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Stardom came at about the age of two hours for you, didn't it?
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I don't have a clear memory of that, but they tell me.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24This was Life magazine.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Well, you know, the Africans believe that
0:06:26 > 0:06:29when you're photographed, it steals your soul.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32So by that reckoning, I never had one.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38Maybe I'll get it back through the same process.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41What were the assumptions made about who you were going to be
0:06:41 > 0:06:45because your parents were Debbie Reynolds
0:06:45 > 0:06:52and Eddie Fisher?
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Well, it was assumed that I would go into show
0:06:55 > 0:06:57business and that I would go
0:06:57 > 0:07:00into nightclub work, which I did in this country.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I dropped out of school, but please don't tell my daughter.
0:07:03 > 0:07:04But I didn't drop out.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07There wasn't a thud, it was more of a slide.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10I sort of dropped subjects, like littering a trail at the school
0:07:10 > 0:07:25where I'd been with subjects.
0:07:25 > 0:07:26The last to drop was English.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29But then I went to drama college in this country,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31so I had a smattering of education, I suppose.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34First of all, you were with your mother in her
0:07:34 > 0:07:35nightclub acts in Vegas.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37What was that like?
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Well, you know, the difficulty about that stuff is,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43what you want to do as a child, what I wanted to do and I gather
0:07:43 > 0:07:46from a lot of people is, you want to fit in.
0:07:46 > 0:07:47And that did not
0:07:47 > 0:07:51enable me to fit in, that I was doing nightclub
0:07:51 > 0:07:54work on my holidays, as opposed to skiing and stuff.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55So it made me different.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57And also, doing nightclub work in front of audiences,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00if I made any mistake, I would just beat myself
0:08:00 > 0:08:09up, horrible pounding.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12But it made you fit in with your mother's world, didn't it?
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Yeah, but my mother's world was a quarter of a
0:08:15 > 0:08:18century older than me.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22So yes, it did make me fit into that, but I was just lost in
0:08:22 > 0:08:23between all the worlds.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25I was decidedly without a generation.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28And is that when therapy started, feeling that
0:08:28 > 0:08:29you were without a generation?
0:08:29 > 0:08:29No.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Absolutely not, that would be way too indulgent.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Therapy started when I was 15.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37I'm manic-depressive, so that's when manic
0:08:37 > 0:08:39depression onsets.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43My mom was going through a bad period and I needed to talk
0:08:43 > 0:08:45to an adult, so I went to therapy.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47I was not diagnosed as manic-depressive until I got
0:08:47 > 0:08:56to a proper psychiatrist, which was when I was 24.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58How aware were you of your mother's unhappiness?
0:08:58 > 0:09:04She said she never had any taste for men, she always
0:09:04 > 0:09:05chose the wrong men
0:09:05 > 0:09:14and she blamed herself for that.
0:09:14 > 0:09:15Oh, the bad taste.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18I was aware of my mother's bad taste at 15, 14.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21Yeah, 14, she told me that the latest husband
0:09:21 > 0:09:23was cheating on her, had spent all her money.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29She told me that when I was 14.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30That was astonishing.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32That was a lot to lay on you.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Well, I remember she said "I can tell you because
0:09:34 > 0:09:35you're the strong one,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37and your brother is the open wound".
0:09:37 > 0:09:40And I thought "No, you've completely got that wrong".
0:09:40 > 0:09:41Yes, it was a lot.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45But you know what, at the end of the day, I was the strong one.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48I mean, perhaps my strength was based out of my weakness,
0:09:48 > 0:09:59but we do grow into those roles that our parents assign us.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Never much of a relationship with your father.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04He left at the age of two, but you haven't
0:10:04 > 0:10:09spoken to him in years.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12No, I have spoken to him in years.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13I've stopped speaking to him now. Hmm.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16But I didn't see him growing up much.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22But I was completely in love with my father.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24He had this great voice.
0:10:24 > 0:10:24He was charming.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26So it's very painful that I...
0:10:26 > 0:10:28I didn't have a proper father-daughter relationship with
0:10:28 > 0:10:30him.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32He wasn't somebody I would go to in trouble.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Quite the opposite, he would come to me when he was in trouble.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41For a long time, though, you were estranged from him.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46No, I wasn't.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Now I am, because he's written this book and I...
0:10:49 > 0:10:53You know, the book, I think, is quite embarrassing.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56Embarrassing or hurtful, to you and your mother?
0:10:56 > 0:10:57Both.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I mean, to have one's parent discussing the sex life...
0:11:00 > 0:11:06It's in such bad taste.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08It's just not done.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10You feel embarrassed about it?
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Well, I was hurt because I said "Don't do it, don't say
0:11:13 > 0:11:16this stuff", and he did.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20I said "If you do it, I'm not going to be able to speak to you".
0:11:20 > 0:11:22So he knew what he was risking.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25None of his children speak to him right now.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28You said you didn't have much confidence in your acting
0:11:28 > 0:11:31abilities early on.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34I don't think I was a confidence maven.
0:11:34 > 0:11:35That wasn't really my middle name.
0:11:35 > 0:11:41I was confidence in my...confident in my verbal acuity.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It's interesting to make a mistake verbally when you say that.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49But I wasn't confident as an actor.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I was confident as a personality, and if my personality
0:11:51 > 0:11:54fitted into a role I was playing, then fine.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59I didn't like how I looked, so I didn't like seeing myself
0:11:59 > 0:12:01on screen or even imagining how I would look.
0:12:01 > 0:12:09But if I could keep away from that idea, then it was all right.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12People have talked about the drugs and you've talked about the drugs
0:12:12 > 0:12:17that were used on the set of Star Wars.
0:12:17 > 0:12:17No.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20I've never talked about the drugs that were used
0:12:20 > 0:12:25on the set of Star Wars.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Some guy who wrote a book about Star Wars who never knew any
0:12:29 > 0:12:31of us or spoke to any of us...
0:12:31 > 0:12:36No.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39That would also make George a moron, that we were all doing drugs
0:12:39 > 0:12:41on the set of Star Wars.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Certainly, I did drugs when I was younger, but I don't
0:12:44 > 0:12:46recall doing them in the Death Star.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Tell me about a nice evening you had with Eric Idle once,
0:12:49 > 0:12:50and the Rolling Stones.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Well, I wrote that one down.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54That was not on the Death Star, though.
0:12:54 > 0:12:55We drank.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58We drank, I called it Tunisian Table Cleaner,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01because he'd done Life Of Brian, and Harrison and I got
0:13:01 > 0:13:04very drunk with Eric and then we went straight to work.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08So we were still inebriated on the set.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10This was something he'd brought back from Tunisia.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Yeah, they were given to the extras to get them to be compliant.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17So somehow, it sets you up.
0:13:17 > 0:13:23It's the only scene in the three films where we're smiling.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25And Eric is kind of pleased...
0:13:25 > 0:13:29He's very pleased, as he should be.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31The Rolling Stones were there that night as well.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33I think they were there earlier on.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35That was what Eric used to do.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39I was renting his house, and yet he'd come in and stay there,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42and I would hear noises downstairs and I'd have a 5.30 call
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and I'd go downstairs, and all of the Rolling Stones
0:13:45 > 0:13:46would be there.
0:13:46 > 0:13:54At that point, one didn't want to go to sleep.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56What was it like, occasions like that?
0:13:56 > 0:13:56It was great.
0:13:56 > 0:14:05What do you remember about them?
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I remember that Charlie Watts didn't have a lot of facial expressions.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Ron Wood was very nice.
0:14:10 > 0:14:11You meet really interesting, great people.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13And I met them quite early on.
0:14:13 > 0:14:20I felt a bit out of my league, certainly, but I was willing to try.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22And Mick Jagger?
0:14:22 > 0:14:23Very nice.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27I've spent more time with him lately, and he's very nice.
0:14:27 > 0:14:28You married Paul Simon.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30Did I?
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Oh, my God, why didn't you tell me?
0:14:32 > 0:14:33What happened?
0:14:33 > 0:14:35How did it turn out?
0:14:35 > 0:14:37How did it turn out?
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Oh, I guess I'm not with him any more.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Fine.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47I get along well with all my exes.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Was marriage the wrong thing to do?
0:14:49 > 0:14:50Yes.
0:14:50 > 0:14:50Why?
0:14:50 > 0:14:56Because if you look at me, at the most, you would think I'm
0:14:56 > 0:14:57an interesting girlfriend, but a wife?
0:14:57 > 0:15:00I think you're going to be disappointed if you're looking
0:15:00 > 0:15:03across at me at a breakfast table and I made the eggs.
0:15:03 > 0:15:04Why?
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Well, I'm actually good at making scrambled eggs.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08So why would a man be disappointed?
0:15:08 > 0:15:09Why make that assumption?
0:15:09 > 0:15:14My role models for marriage are bad on both sides.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18My parents have been married seven or eight times between them.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22So I didn't have a lot of faith in the...
0:15:22 > 0:15:26You know, marital vows, I guess.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30But Paul and I were a good idea in an area.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33We were both very verbal and we both had a very odd relationship
0:15:33 > 0:15:38with the English language.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41In what way?
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Cadences, constant use of puns, bizarre.
0:15:44 > 0:15:55They used to call it the secret handshake of shared sensibility.
0:15:55 > 0:15:56So you had fun together.
0:15:56 > 0:15:57We had everything together.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58It was an actual relationship.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Fun was one of the things we had.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04We also had a hard time at other times.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07And Brian Lourd, the father of Billie.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11He's arrived here in London today.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13So we'll all be out this evening.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15I get along extremely well with him.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17I get on well with both of them.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18Why didn't that one work?
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Well, he's gay.
0:16:21 > 0:16:22You didn't know that?
0:16:22 > 0:16:26He forgot to mention it.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27Didn't come up.
0:16:27 > 0:16:28So to speak!
0:16:28 > 0:16:36No, I did not know that.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38How much did that hurt?
0:16:38 > 0:16:39Well, it was awful.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42It was awful.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44All of these...
0:16:44 > 0:16:46relationships dissolving, whatever
0:16:46 > 0:16:48the reason, is unpleasant.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53That's just another betrayal.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57It's a difficult one, but I don't think any betrayals are easy.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Sounds in a way as if you've almost lived life on a tightrope,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04and things knock you off from time to time and you've
0:17:04 > 0:17:05turned to drugs...
0:17:05 > 0:17:09I think you called them your islands of relief at one point.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Well, it is so that I'm manic depressive.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17It is so that 60% of all manic depressives self-medicate,
0:17:17 > 0:17:22either with alcohol or drugs.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25It is so that I've ended up in a mental hospital,
0:17:25 > 0:17:26which is not de rigueur.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29This is not what people conventionally do in Hollywood.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32And that was not because of drugs, that was because I had
0:17:32 > 0:17:37a psychotic manic episode due to manic depression.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41I would probably have been a drug addict in any event.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46But it certainly gave me a real edge to be a drug addict,
0:17:46 > 0:17:47given my chemical imbalance, bipolar, manic-depressive,
0:17:47 > 0:17:52whatever you want to call it.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53Have you come close to killing yourself?
0:17:54 > 0:17:56I've thought about it, but not really, no.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58I thought about it.
0:17:58 > 0:17:59It was very unpleasant.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05And when I ended up in the hospital, I lost my mind.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08How do you mean?
0:18:08 > 0:18:15I had a psychotic break, which means you feel this
0:18:15 > 0:18:16horrible thing coming.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18You have no idea what it is.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19A sense of impending doom?
0:18:19 > 0:18:20It's beyond doom.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22You feel you're dying.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25I was trying to think...
0:18:25 > 0:18:27could I outlast my death,
0:18:27 > 0:18:32was a thought I had.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35I thought if I fell asleep I would die and if I
0:18:35 > 0:18:36stayed awake, I would die.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40I stayed awake for six days, and I ended up in lock-up.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45Losing your mind is truly horrible.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Once it's gone, it's fine.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51How do you get it back?
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Time.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57And a very hard programme of rehabilitation.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Well, I was an outpatient in a mental hospital for five months.
0:19:01 > 0:19:08You know, I had therapy.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10I hardly need therapy any more.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13It's been 28 years that I've been in therapy.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16But I like it, like getting my teeth cleaned.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20I should probably do that a bit more.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25But I'm on medication now for manic depression.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28And you know what they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30What about what kills you?
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Because that killed me.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36I think you said it didn't make you stronger, it showed up how weak
0:19:36 > 0:19:37and vulnerable you were.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41No, I'm stronger now, forget all that.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43You've been through that.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46No, what it taught me was the difference between a problem
0:19:46 > 0:19:50and an inconvenience, and I have not had that many
0:19:50 > 0:19:54problems in my life, I've been very lucky that way.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57But that mental hospital thing was a problem.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Another time, I had a problem was when I thought Billie had asthma
0:20:01 > 0:20:03and we had to go to the hospital.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06I thought she was going to die, so that was a problem.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07A big one.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Yeah.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Postcards From The Edge.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16Did that make you look at your life in a different way?
0:20:16 > 0:20:17You know, no.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20An actress coming back from rehabilitation,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23trying to claw back her life?
0:20:23 > 0:20:26I always seem to be coming back from something.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28You know?
0:20:28 > 0:20:33No, that, now, is 13 years ago, lucky 13.
0:20:33 > 0:20:39All of it makes me look at my life, and I'm awfully tired
0:20:39 > 0:20:42of looking at my life.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46It's true, I'd rather live it than look at it all the time.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48So you're spending more time living it these days.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Yeah, well, I'd rather lead a life than follow one around.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Is that how it felt for a long time?
0:20:55 > 0:20:55Oh, yeah.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58I was driven and I didn't know who was driving.
0:20:58 > 0:20:59And now you do.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01You're finally back in the driving seat?
0:21:02 > 0:21:03Yes, but given that that was
0:21:03 > 0:21:09possible, the thing that happened in the hospital where I didn't sleep
0:21:09 > 0:21:11for six days, it's not a distinct possibility,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15but it is a possibility for me, so I know what the odds are now.
0:21:15 > 0:21:23So I actually have a good time pretty much all the time now.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26You're very, very happy, you've described yourself.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29I'm like a Hallmark card.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31I go skipping down the street.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33It's just ill-making.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34Are you still acting?
0:21:34 > 0:21:35Right now, I am.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Didn't you notice?
0:21:37 > 0:21:48I mean outside the studio.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Yes, I still act once a day, to keep my Sag dues alive.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54But writing is really your passion.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56But it's gone from inclination to obligation now.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58A lot of things have, yes.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03Does it feel like hard work?
0:22:03 > 0:22:05The hard work was what I did in the hospital.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Everything I do now is not a problem.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Tell me about Those Old Broads.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Oh, they're going to make that.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14You've written the screenplay.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17They're going to make it as a television movie
0:22:17 > 0:22:20with my mother, with Elizabeth Taylor.
0:22:20 > 0:22:21Shirley MacLaine.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24I think so, yeah.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28In terms of making a feature, Shirley says it's like ageism
0:22:29 > 0:22:33and stuff, you know.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Hollywood do more films about younger people.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38How is your mother these days?
0:22:38 > 0:22:39My mother is fantastic.
0:22:40 > 0:22:41She's fantastic.
0:22:41 > 0:22:42Looks fantastic.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45It's her birthday tomorrow.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47I sent her a silver picture frame from here.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49That's what she collects.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51And you're still very loyal to her, aren't you?
0:22:51 > 0:22:54I love my mother.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59You're a good child.
0:23:00 > 0:23:01You're a loyal child.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03I'm a good child, my daughter's a good child.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04We're just sickening.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06No, we're a matriarchy.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08My mother and my daughter get along very well.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11My daughter's taking tap dancing now.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13You know what Jung said?
0:23:13 > 0:23:15What does a grandmother and a granddaughter,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18or a grandparent and a grandchild have in common?
0:23:18 > 0:23:18What?
0:23:18 > 0:23:23They share a common enemy.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Carrie Fisher, it's been a pleasure having you on the programme.
0:23:26 > 0:23:35Thank you very much.