The Princess Diarist Review: Carrie Fisher’s Honest, Heartfelt Look Behind Star Wars Fame

Read time: 3 minutes

Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction
📚 Read as a book | 📃 267 pages | ⏱ Duration: 2 hours
Part of the Goodreads Challenge: Most Popular Memoirs in the Past Decade
🏷️ Publisher: Blue Rider Press

Book Blurb:

The Princess Diarist unearths Carrie Fisher’s personal journals from her time filming Star Wars: A New Hope. This raw celebrity memoir captures her meteoric rise as Princess Leia at just 19, blending wit and vulnerability. It dives deep into her off-screen romance with Harrison Ford, exposing the emotional turbulence of young love under Hollywood’s glare. Fisher reflects on fame, self-doubt, and navigating an illicit affair with sharp humor and heart. While offering glimpses into behind-the-scenes Star Wars stories, the focus remains on her inner world, delivering an intimate portrait of the woman behind the iconic role.

let’s talk about the book:

I picked up The Princess Diarist for my Goodreads Challenge, expecting a treasure trove of Star Wars behind-the-scenes secrets, maybe some X-wing trivia or a sneak peek at Alderaan’s CGI glow. Instead, Carrie Fisher delivers a deeply personal Hollywood memoir about love, obsession, and celebrity, spilling tea on her steamy affair with Harrison Ford during the 1977 shoot.

Fisher’s honesty about the affair, her vulnerability, and her youthful confusion lends the memoir an emotional depth that’s hard to ignore, even if it wasn’t what I had originally anticipated. Her 19-year-old self is all heart-eyed and heartbreak, caught up in a romance with a married, older co-star who was basically Han Solo in real life (swoon, but ouch).

Her journal entries are raw, witty, and sometimes gut-wrenching, painting a vivid picture of a young woman wrestling with love and identity under the intense Hollywood spotlight. Wouldn’t we feel the same as the quote below if someone were to look at our teenage journals?

“If anyone reads this when I have passed to the big bad beyond I shall be posthumorously embarrassed. I shall spend my entire afterlife blushing.”

The book, however, doesn’t dive deeply into Star Wars lore. There’s this one bit about the Princess Leia hairstyle story that’s pure gold, laugh-out-loud funny and exactly the kind of quirky anecdote I craved. Sadly, it’s the only real Star Wars behind-the-scenes gem. I wanted more about the galaxy far, far away, not just Fisher’s heart.

Her writing crackles with charm and wit, but the memoir’s focus on her Ford obsession over Star Wars trivia left me wanting. If you’re after a juicy, emotional ride through Hollywood’s golden years, it delivers. If you’re a die-hard Star Wars fan, you might feel like you missed the Millennium Falcon.

PS – Chewy is referred to as an oversized monkey… NO!!!

Would I recommend it?

Depends on who’s reading it. This Carrie Fisher memoir shines through its emotional honesty and unique glimpses into her younger self, but its narrow focus means it’s not a perfect fit for fans hoping for exclusive Star Wars secrets and movie magic.

A lasting legacy:

Reading The Princess Diarist is bittersweet because we know how tragically we lost Carrie Fisher in 2016. The world didn’t just lose Princess Leia, it lost a brilliant writer, comedian, mental health advocate, and Hollywood truth-teller. This memoir stands as a reminder of her wit, courage, and vulnerability, capturing the voice of a legend gone too soon.

If you like this, try…

• Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
  More witty, raw confessions from Fisher herself—ideal if you want her signature humor without the romance focus.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
  Her semi-autobiographical novel on addiction and fame hits the same vulnerable Hollywood notes with sharper fiction flair.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again by Julia Phillips
  A no-holds-barred Hollywood memoir packed with insider scandals, great for behind-the-scenes grit minus the Star Wars lens.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by Chris Taylor
  The ultimate deep dive into Star Wars history and production secrets you craved from Fisher’s book.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
• Bossypants by Tina Fey
  Hilarious celebrity memoir with self-deprecating wit and showbiz anecdotes—like Fisher’s humor but broader and funnier.
  Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy

The force is strong with your opinion:

Did the Princess Leia hair story make you laugh, or were you hoping for more Star Wars dirt like me? Do you feel too, that we lost Carrie Fisher too soon? Share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s dish on whether this memoir lived up to your galactic expectations!

Book links:

Want to purchase this or any of your favorite books while supporting a local bookstore? Consider purchasing using the sites below. These sites work with independent local bookstore owners to fulfill your book orders. #SupportLocal

Indiebookstores.ca
Bookshop.org
Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
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