Carrie Fisher’s Official Cause of Death Revealed
Nearly half a year after Carrie Fisher died after going into cardiac arrest while on a flight from London to Los Angeles, the L.A. County Medical Examiner's office confirms that the actress died of "sleep apnea and other undetermined factors."
Fisher, who passed away at the age of 60 on December 27, 2016, suffered from atherosclerotic heart disease, which, along with drug abuse, may have been other factors leading to her death.
"My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it," Fisher's daughter, actress Billie Lourd, said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight. "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," Lourd added. "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."
Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds Through the Years: