This Is The Conversation We Should Be Having About Carrie Fisher’s Death
Assigning a binary of good and bad to sober/not sober ignores Fisher’s complicated relationship with her varying and intersecting illnesses.
When the news broke Sunday morning that sleep apnea had been a contributing factor in Carrie Fisher’s death, it didn’t make much of a ripple on social media. It was almost anti-climactic, in a way. After the wild, brilliant life she’d led, it turned out she might have died of the same disease that makes your old uncle Howard in Idaho strap a strange-looking mask to his face every night. Nothing too glamorous about that, is there?
Then on Tuesday morning further details of Fisher’s autopsy were released, including the information that she had cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin in her system.
And then the internet, predictably, blew up.
Never mind that the amounts of ecstasy and heroin were miniscule. Never mind that the autopsy report stated that they could have been consumed as early as 72 hours before Fisher died — meaning it’s unlikely she died of an overdose, as some have assumed. People had discovered a narrative that suited their image of Carrie Fisher — the beleaguered star who, though she had periods of sobriety…
