`Star Wars` actress Carrie Fisher passes away at 60

California: Hollywood star Carrie Fisher died on Tuesday, according to a family statement given to People magazine.

She is best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" saga.

"It is with a very deep sadness that Billie Lourd confirms that her beloved mother Carrie Fisher passed away at 8:55 this morning," family spokesman Simon Halls said in a statement on behalf of Fisher`s daughter, as per AFP.

The 60-year-old had suffered a cardiac arrest when she was flying from London to Los Angeles on Friday.

She had been in England shooting the third season of the British sitcom "Catastrophe".

Fisher had collapsed 15 minutes before the plane landed at LAX and was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Her death came a month after the actress and author made headlines by disclosing that she had a three-month love affair with her "Star Wars" co-star Harrison Ford 40 years ago, as per Reuters.

Fisher revealed the secret to People magazine while promoting her new memoir, "The Princess Diarist," just before it went on sale.

The book is based on Fisher`s diaries from her time working on the first "Star Wars" movie.

Fisher said the affair started and ended in 1976 during production on the blockbuster sci-fi adventure. Ford played the maverick space pilot Han Solo in the film.

She was 19 and Ford was 33 at the time of the affair. 

The actress got her start in Hollywood in 1975 in the film "Shampoo" and was catapulted to worldwide stardom as the rebel warrior in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, which has been a cultural phenomenon since the release of the films from 1977 to 1983. 

Fisher reprised the role in two "Star Wars" sequels. She gained sex symbol status in 1983`s "Return of the Jedi" when her Leia character wore a metallic gold bikini while enslaved by the diabolical Jabba the Hutt. 

She returned last year in Disney`s reboot of the "Star Wars" franchise, "The Force Awakens," appearing as the more matronly General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance movement fighting the evil First Order.

Filming was completed in July on Fisher`s next appearance as Leia in "Star Wars: Episode VIII," which is set to reach theaters in December 2017.

She also played a memorable supporting role in the 1989 hit film "When Harry Met Sally," as a friend of Meg Ryan`s character who falls for and marries the best pal of Billy Crystal`s character.

She was the product of the four-year marriage of movie star Debbie Reynolds, best-known for her role in "Singin` In The Rain," and singer Eddie Fisher.

She was once engaged to comic actor Dan Aykroyd, later married, then divorced, singer-songwriter Paul Simon, and had a daughter out of wedlock with Hollywood talent agent Brian Lourd.

Fisher talked and wrote frequently about her years of drug addiction and mental illness.

She was also known for her searingly honest semi-autobiographical novels, including her best-selling debut "Postcards from the Edge" which she later turned into a film of the same name in 1990. 

She gave various interviews over the years about her diagnosis of bipolar disorder and addiction to prescription drugs and cocaine, which had she admitted using on the set of "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980).

Fisher had also discussed being treated with electroconvulsive therapy, in which small electric currents are passed through the brain, to trigger brief seizures.

Summing up the showbiz legacy she expected to leave behind in her 2011 memoir "Shockaholic," Fisher wrote in self-deprecating style - "What you`ll have of me after I journey to that great Death Star in the sky is an extremely accomplished daughter, a few books, and a picture of a stern-looking girl wearing some kind of metal bikini lounging on a giant drooling squid, behind a newscaster informing you of the passing of Princess Leia after a long battle with her head." 

(With Agency inputs)