Carrie Fisher‘s death last December still pains fans of the smart, bitingly funny, and fiercely unapologetic actress. But just when we thought we couldn’t love our Princess Leia any more, an incredible new story about her has emerged in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Heather Ross, a screenwriter and close friend of Fisher, called into 94.9 MixFM in Tucson to describe a horrifying incident she experienced when she was new to the entertainment industry back in 2000. Ross told the radio show she had the opportunity to meet with an Oscar-winning producer to discuss getting involved with a project. She believed the meeting was purely professional, but on their way to grab a meal, she said the producer pulled his vehicle over and held her down while he groped her.
“I was thinking in my head there is no way this is happening right now,” she said. Ross fled the vehicle, and grappled with what to do next, confiding in her mother and several close friends, including Fisher. The producer had threatened that Ross would never work in Hollywood.
“Carrie Fisher, a lot of people said in the news after her passing that she was like a mother figure and she took care of people, which she did—and I was one of many.” Ross said. “She was very protective of me and more scared for my safety than anything. And after that fear wore off, about two weeks later, she sent me a message online and she was like, ‘I just saw (blank) at Sony Studios. I knew he would probably be there, so I went to his office and personally delivered a Tiffany box wrapped with a white bow.’ I asked her, ‘Well, OK, what was inside?'”
It was a cow tongue Fisher got from Jerry’s Famous Deli with a note that read, according to Ross, “If you ever touch my darling Heather or any other woman again, the next delivery will be [clears throat] something of yours in a much smaller box.”
Fisher even stuck around to relish the look on the producer’s face. If you don’t know what a cow tongue looks like, Ross suggests Googling it. It’s gross—but worth the visual.
There’s been a lot of soul-searching in Hollywood over the past few days about sexual predation by those in power and the crushing choices faced by young men and women who feared damaging their careers by speaking up. Seventeen years ago, Fisher sent a message like only she could.
H/T 19.4 MixFM via Jezebel