RIP Carrie Fisher: We Salute Your Advocacy for Mental Health Issues

Fisher, who played the iconic role of Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy (1977-83) and last year’s The Force Awakens, was rushed to the hospital on Friday after entering cardiac arrest on a flight from London to Los Angeles.

“She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,” said Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, in a statement to PEOPLE. “Our entire family thanks you for your thoughts and prayers.”

In addition to portraying one of the most beloved film characters of all time, Fisher also starred in The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally…, and Hannah and Her Sisters, and wrote several books, including 2008’s Wishful Drinking and this year’s The Princess Diarist (in which she revealed a secret affair with Star Wars costar Harrison Ford).

Fisher wasn’t shy when it came to discussing her mental health, including her bipolar disorder, as well as her drug use in the 1970s and 80s. Earlier this year, Harvard College gave her a lifetime achievement award for her “forthright activism and outspokenness about addiction” and mental illness.

Fisher was known for having a fierce, funny, unfiltered personality, which didn’t just make her candid interviews on talk shows appointment viewing, but the object of affection for many men who were already enamored with her for playing a badass sci-fi hero with cinnamon bun hair. She will be missed.