Latest To Know About Carrie Fisher's Frightening Medical Crisis
Dec. 24 2016, Updated 3:27 p.m. ET
New details are coming to light about Star Wars star Carrie Fisher after she suffered a near-fatal heart attack on a United flight from London to Los Angeles on Dec. 23. Click through to get the latest on what's going on with the 60-year-old's health condition.
According to a Daily Mail report, Fisher's heart attack may have been caused by a series of problems leading up to the medical crisis, including her past drug addiction and her unhealthy mental state about her weight.
Fisher's early entrance into the Hollywood scene — at just 19 years old — introduced her to the drug scene among the stars. Her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars in 1977 only worsened the conditions for her, causing her to become addicted to cocaine on set.
What's more, directors of the hit movie instructed Fisher to drop 10 pounds for the role, which was only the beginning of her body dysmorphia issues that would later cause her to go through one yoyo weight nightmare after another, even still as she prepared for her role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens last year.
She was told to shed 35 lbs. for the gig. "I did it the same way everybody has to — don't eat and exercise more! There is no other way to do it," she said during an interview with Good Housekeeping U.K.
But according to what a doctor told The Mirror, Fisher's dramatic weight loss could've been another key component to what finally caught up with her on Dec. 23. "When you go on a crash diet, it's not just fat you lose," the unnamed doctor said. "If the heart loses too much muscle, it can't pump properly, leading to an irregular heartbeat, which can result in a heart attack."
As RadarOnline.com reported, Fisher went into cardiac arrest on a flight back to L.A. after she finished filming season 3 of sitcom Catastrophe in London. Just one week before her flight, her costar Sharon Horgan posted a photo with Fisher on the set.
Actress Anna Akana sent a tweet after she watched Fisher's health scare unfold on the flight. "Don't know how else to process this but Carrie Fisher stopped breathing on the flight home. Hope she's gonna be OK," later telling fans, "She wasn't breathing for 10 minutes or so. They were administering CPR up until we landed." The actress also thanked the United flight crew and doctors and nurse passengers who aided the sick star until they got to the gate.
"Paramedics were standing by for the plane's arrival, provided Advanced Life Support and aggressively treated and transported the patient to a local hospital," the Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson, Erik Scott, told RadarOnline.com on Dec. 23. Fisher's uncle, William Reynolds, later told RadarOnline.com that after she was put on a ventilator at the hospital, "she is resting" and "fine" at the hospital.
Her daughter, Billie Lourde, was later spotted arriving at the hospital on Friday with her mom's French bulldog. When RadarOnline.com contacted Carrie's mom, Debbie Reynolds, who lives next door to her in Beverly Hills, she was still at that point in the dark as to how her daughter's medical emergency came to be.
She is currently being treated in intensive care at UCLA. Stay with RadarOnline.com for updates about Carrie Fisher's condition.
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