Carrie Fisher's ashes kept in pill-shaped urn

Carrie Fisher's ashes were placed in one of her most prized possessions: an urn in the shape of a giant antidepressant pill. PHOTO: EPA

WASHINGTON • Carrie Fisher never minced words about her bipolar disorder and her problems with drugs and alcohol.

She had openly described herself as manic depressive, never shying away from talking about her fight against her mental illness. "Bring it on," she said in a 2000 ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer.

It would seem fitting, then, that as a tribute to the iconic Star Wars princess' equally memorable wit and blunt humour, her ashes were placed in one of her most prized possessions: an urn in the shape of a giant antidepressant pill.

Pictures from the funeral in Los Angeles last Friday show her younger brother Todd carrying a white and green Prozac pill-shaped urn. He told BBC News that he and Billie Lourd, Carrie Fisher's daughter, "felt it was where she would want to be".

"Well, Carrie's favourite possession was a giant Prozac pill that she bought many years ago and she loved it. It was in her house," he said after the funeral. "We couldn't find anything appropriate. Carrie would like that. It was her favourite thing, so that's how you do it."

Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds were buried together at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.

The once-estranged mother and daughter, who reconnected in recent years, died within a day of each other.

Fisher, 60, died on Dec 27 after suffering a heart attack days earlier, while Reynolds, 84, died of a stroke the following day.

Fisher, a long-time mental health advocate, was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was in her mid-20s. She did not accept the diagnosis until a few years later.

Her drug indulgence reached its peak in the 1980s, when she went to a rehabilitation and a mental hospital. It was also around that time that a doctor pumped her stomach during a near-fatal overdose.

"I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that," she said on ABC News.

Fisher used humour to cope with her illness over the years. When WebMD asked her what it was like to be the poster child for bipolar disorder, she said: "Well, I am hoping to get the centrefold in Psychology Today."

"That's my way of surviving, to abstract it into something that's funny and not dangerous," she told People. "It is not an entertainment. I'm not going to stop writing about it, but I have to understand it."

After the funeral, many took to Twitter to express their appreciation of the humour behind the urn. "I can't be positive, but I think Carrie Fisher had an urn made that looks like a Prozac pill which is genius of her," said New York City-based pop culture and comedy writer Cher Martinetti.

"She wins all funerals, forever," P.J. Gallagher, a comedian from Ireland tweeted. "Witty til the end," Borys Kit, writer for the Hollywood Reporter, said.

WASHINGTON POST

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 09, 2017, with the headline Carrie Fisher's ashes kept in pill-shaped urn. Subscribe