Carrie Fisher further cemented her status as a heroine of realtalk on Twitter yesterday when she told fans who were obsessing over how well she’d aged since the last Star Wars films three decades ago to stuff it, essentially. “Please stop debating about whether or not I have aged well. Unfortunately it hurts all 3 of my feelings. My body hasn’t aged as well as I have. Blow us.”
“Youth and beauty are not accomplishments,” she later added. “They’re the temporary happy by-products of time and/or DNA. Don’t hold your breath for either.”
The caustic, witty actress and acclaimed writer has never been anything but candid about the pressures of fame in terms of an actress’s looks, as well as her own struggles with alcoholism, mental illness, and more. On her press tour for The Force Awakens, she’s joked about how discussion of her pre-role weight loss —as well as weight loss itself —is boring.
Her Twitter moment this week was quickly applauded by fans of both genders who love Leia and reject the double standard facing older actresses, in particular. Were her male counterparts treated the same? fans asked. And wouldn’t a character who had been through torture, multiple wars, the loss of a son to a death cult and a missing brother be looking a little weatherbeaten?
In fact, she’s already been memefied:
One look at the comment section of any article about Fisher’s appearance and you’ll see the kind of vile, almost always misogynist comments, she’s fighting back against. It’s fortunate that characters like Leia and Rey — and figures like Fisher — are there to kick that kind of hurtful hatred in the face.