Star Wars fans
Gossip curious
Princess Leia and Hans - behind the scenes
The short affair well known . Trivial perhaps but for two people back then - not trivial
I’m a Star Wars fan. My interest in cinema goes beyond the actual movies . To the music( John William’s genius) , cast, locations, director etc . Yes in the big scheme of this quite trivial
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Carrie Fisher was 19, new to fame, and stepping into a galaxy far, far away. It was during the London shoot of “Star Wars” in 1976, inside the chilly, chaotic sets at Elstree Studios, that her affair with 33-year-old Harrison Ford began. An affair kept entirely secret for nearly four decades. Ford, who played the cocky and magnetic Han Solo, was married with two children. Fisher, portraying the rebellious Princess Leia, found herself entangled in a complex emotional web she wouldn’t publicly untangle until she was 60.
The night it began was surreal. A birthday party for George Lucas’s production assistant spiraled into drunken chaos. Fisher, feeling out of place among the older British crew, was cornered by some men, and suddenly Ford appeared, quiet and protective. She later recalled in her memoir, “The Princess Diarist,” how he whisked her away into his car. “He was kind, gentle, and attentive,” she wrote. “And he smelled so good. I was drawn to him in ways I didn’t completely understand.”
The affair continued quietly for three months, unfolding during night shoots and weekend breaks, hidden from Lucas, the crew, and the wider world. Fisher, already grappling with self-doubt and a deep sense of loneliness, found in Ford something that felt like stability, though she later admitted that feeling was more illusion than truth. “I always wanted him to say he loved me, but he never did,” she admitted in her memoir, adding that she kept hoping he’d see her as more than a passing moment in his life.
At the time, Fisher masked her insecurities with humor, but privately she was overwhelmed. She struggled with the awareness that Ford was not emotionally available. He rarely spoke about his wife or children, and she knew better than to ask. Yet the emotional weight of the secrecy consumed her. “It was Han and Leia during the day, and something messier at night,” she reflected in an interview. The dissonance between their onscreen chemistry and their offscreen silence gnawed at her.
Decades later, in 2016, with Ford’s silent blessing, Fisher finally detailed the affair in “The Princess Diarist.” It had been one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets. Even Mark Hamill, their co-star, had no idea. In interviews, he admitted, “I was shocked. I was right there, and I didn’t see a thing. They were that discreet.” When asked why she chose to reveal it so many years later, Fisher said simply, “I’m tired of carrying someone else’s secret.”
The writing in her memoir revealed not bitterness, but emotional honesty. She revisited her 19-year-old self with compassion, describing her vulnerability with unflinching clarity. “If I’d known about feminism then, maybe I’d have demanded more,” she wrote. “But I was young, and I thought being loved meant being chosen, even secretly.”
Ford, for his part, never publicly commented in detail. When asked during a GQ interview about Fisher’s revelations, he replied, “It was strange. For me.” That was all he offered. Fisher later said he had been kind about her decision to go public, though visibly uncomfortable. She had given him advance notice, sent him the manuscript, and even offered to delete parts if he objected. He didn’t ask for any changes.
The affair ended quietly when filming wrapped, and their lives moved in different directions. Ford’s career soared. Fisher battled addiction, mental illness, and the burden of living in Leia’s shadow. Yet they reunited onscreen in “The Force Awakens” nearly 40 years later, bringing Han and Leia’s dynamic full circle. On set, their chemistry remained electric. “We’ve always had that weird spark,” Fisher joked during a press interview. “It just never made sense.”
She died the same year she published her memoir. For many, her story with Ford became not gossip, but a raw, human look at a young woman learning love’s most painful lesson: how it feels to love someone who doesn’t love you back in the same way.
Carrie Fisher’s honesty revealed what fiction never could, the fragile truth behind the fantasy.
Just for the record, I am NOT AT ALL a Star Wars fan. The first movie was okay, the rest were boring.
Carrie Fisher’s Mom was Debbie Reynolds - who lost HER husband and Carrie’s father, Eddie Fisher...to Liz Taylor!
So, they’ve both known heartache at the hands of unscrupulous Hollywood Stars. Debbie and Liz reconciled near Liz’s death and Liz left Debbie a nice pile of expensive jewelry in her will. ;)
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