Associated Press claims that the Los Angeles County coroner’s report shows Carrie Fisher died of sleep apnea and other “undetermined factors.”
On Friday, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office stated that Carrie Fisher’s death was caused by sleep apnea and other “undetermined factors.”
Sleep apnea is a condition where a person stops breathing while they sleep. A person can stop breathing for seconds or even minutes, several times in the night.
Fisher passed away in December 2016 from what was then dubbed as heart complications. According to The Associated Press, the coroner’s report also showed that Fisher suffered from a “buildup of fatty tissues in the walls of her arteries.” This condition may have contributed to her death. In addition, the coroner found evidence of multiple drugs in Fisher’s system. In the end, though, it was impossible to determine a definitive cause, so the coroner ruled the cause of Fisher’s death as “undetermined.”
Billie Lourd and Carrie Fisher. Image Credit: Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd acknowledged her mother’s drug use:
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"“My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases.“She talked about the shame that torments people and their families confronted by these diseases. I know my Mom, she’d want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles. Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programs. Shame and those social stigmas are the enemies of progress to solutions and ultimately a cure. Love you Momby.”"
Carrie Fisher was a complicated, beautiful person. You don’t go through the things she went through – mental illness, addiction, as well as a host of other life dramas like divorce – without coming out scarred. Nevertheless, she faced the challenges in her life with gusto. As Lourd said, Fisher would want us to use her story to encourage ourselves and others to “seek help” for our problems.
Our thoughts are with Lourd and the rest of Fisher’s family during this difficult time.
H/T: Entertainment Weekly