More has been written of “Star Wars” than there are moons of Yavin, but one story has remained hidden in the tangled brush of time.
Everyone knows Princess Leia and Han Solo ended up being a whole lot more than friends – the existence of a shared child in Kylo Ren in last year’s franchise reboot proved as much. Even before this physical proof was presented, we had that iconic scene from “The Empire Strikes Back” in which Carrie Fisher’s Leia shouted “I love you,” and Harrison Ford’s Han Solo smoothly responded, “I know.”
And, of course, the kiss they share.
But now we know the actors who played these iconic characters had a little heat off-screen as well. Fisher exposed as much in her new book “The Princess Diarist,” an upcoming memoir culled together from journals that she kept during the filming of “A New Hope,” the first “Star Wars” movie.
In addition, Fisher spoke briefly with People about her three-month affair with Ford. At the time, she was 19 years old, and he was 33.
“I was so inexperienced, but I trusted something about him. He was kind,” Fisher said of the then-married father of two.
Ford and his wife at the time, Mary Marquardt, filed for divorce in 1979, two years after “A New Hope” hit theaters. Ford did not respond to People’s request for comment.
Describing the affair as “intense,” Fisher joked, “It was Han and Leia during the week, and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend.”
The two spent their first evening together after a birthday party for George Lucas, the film’s director. Even after that, though, Fisher claimed to be filled with doubt about the relationship.
“I looked over at Harrison. A hero’s face – a few strands of hair fell over his noble, slightly furrowed brow,” she writes. “How could you ask such a shining specimen of a man to be satisfied with the likes of me?”
According to Radar, Fisher wrote in the book (which will be released on Nov. 22) that she couldn’t remember many details of the affair thanks to “the brutal strength of Harrison’s preferred strain of pot.”
As the “Star Wars” universe returned to the big screens with last year’s “The Force Awakens,” which included the original trilogy’s three stars – Fisher, Ford and Mark Hamill – much of the conversation centered on Fisher, particularly the studio’s treatment of her.
Fisher told Good Housekeeping that she was asked to lose 35 pounds.
“They don’t want to hire all of me – only about three-quarters!” she told the magazine. “Nothing changes, it’s an appearance-driven thing. I’m in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance. That is so messed up. They might as well say get younger, because that’s how easy it is.”
The conversation around her appearance only increased after the film came out. As Yanan Wang reported in The Washington Post, “Some longtime fans were stuck on a detail that shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone: The actors have aged. Or, to zone in on the preoccupation, Fisher has aged – and allegedly ‘not well.'”
Twitter filled with vitriol toward Fisher, who was 59 years old when the film was released. Not being one to hold her tongue, Fisher fired back.
Twitter users were kinder with Fisher’s recent reveal. Some simply claimed to have always known. Some seemed excited by the news. Others were displeased.
Most, though, seemed only to want more details – to which Fisher made clear she doesn’t kiss and tell … too much:
“I would never talk about how someone was in any furniture – chair, bed, coffee table or otherwise,” she tweeted.