40 Celebrities We Need To Keep Safe From 2016

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 17: Carrie Fisher and dog Gary on stage during Future Directors Panel at the Star Wars Celebration 2016 at ExCel on July 17, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios)

15. Carrie Fisher

I’m not sure what I love most about Carrie Fisher. It might be the fact that she takes her French bulldog, Gary, everywhere with her (even on the red carpet, because what better date than your dog). It might be that she’s extremely honest and open about her issues with mental illness and drug addiction in the past. It might be that she’s also hilarious. It might be that she has also been a highly in-demand script doctor and, of course, a writer.

It may also be that she and her mother, the legendary Debbie Reynolds, live next door to each other and star in next year’s HBO documentary Bright Lights.

It is all of those, and it is also the fact that she is, of course, Princess Leia Organa. For a lot of people, myself included, Princess Leia was one of the first female characters who did not particularly need rescuing. She literally takes charge of her own rescue in A New Hope. She is not above calling Han Solo a “scruffy-looking nerf herder” and generally deflating his ego.

That’s a powerful set of lessons. You can also be a boss and be pretty at the same time. Look no further than Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens for additional proof.

Dear 2016: please do not take Carrie away. We need her still.

-Cheryl

Next: Betty White