A Star Wars romance. Carrie Fisher revealed new details of her secret affair with costar Harrison Ford on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday, November 29, after she first broke the news in her just-released book, The Princess Diarist.
The actress, 60, and Ford, 74, had the three-month affair while filming Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope in 1976. “I was in infatuation, probably. Infatuation. Love is more mature,” Fisher told DeGeneres of their relationship when asked if it was love or just sex.
After 40 years of keeping the affair a secret, Fisher is now sharing more details about the tryst. “I told other stuff to distract people, so they would never figure it out,” she explained. “And no one thought it was happening at the time.”
Fisher also shed light on what it was like being on location, away from family and friends. “Everybody was away from home, so then the rules — I didn’t know this, I was 19, no one told me about location rules, or lack of rules,” she told DeGeneres. “But you can do whatever you want as long as you film the movie. [People] can sleep together if their family is not around.”
The actress, who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, and Ford, who played Leia’s love interest Han Solo, then had romantic scenes in the following film, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. “We practiced the kissing [for Episode V] on the first movie off screen. That shows dedication to your craft,” Fisher joked.
But there were darker sides to the affair too. “It was sad because I was so insecure,” she said in an interview on the Today show on Monday, November 21. Ford, who was then 33, was a married father of two during the “three-month one-night stand.” Ford and his then wife, Mary Marquadt, later divorced in 1979.
Watch the clip above and catch the entire interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday, November 29, at 4 p.m. ET on NBC.