Wrote a book about her descent into depression and drug dependency called Postcards From The Edge, which was subsequently turned into a movie directed by Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.
She has been dependent on Percocet and similar drugs at various times in her life. However, because Fisher is very intelligent and well-spoken, she often gets away with being completely wasted in public. In the mid-90s she appeared on the Arsenio Hall show while, in her words, "completely stoned". It took her nearly 30 seconds, with Hall's help, to get from the stage entrance area, across the stage, to her seat beside his desk. However she remained lucid during the entire interview and if you had watched it without knowing that she was blotto, you wouldn't have thought twice about it.
Fisher is manic-depressive and has several rather well publicized encounters with near-insanity.
Carrie Fisher currently is one of Hollywood's most sought-after script doctors.
Editor's note: Carrie Fisher died December 27, 2016, aged 60. She died a few days after suffering a severe heart attack while on a transatlantic flight. She survived the flight as it was close to landing at LAX had been stabilized in an intensive care unit after initially being in critical condition, but evidently, it was not to be. May the force be with you, Carrie Fisher.