Entertainment

Carrie Fisher wins first Grammy award posthumously

The Princess Leia actress died aged 60 in December 2016.
The Princess Leia actress died aged 60 in December 2016. The Princess Leia actress died aged 60 in December 2016.

Star Wars’ Carrie Fisher has posthumously won her first Grammy Award.

The Princess Leia actress, who died aged 60 in December 2016, won in the spoken word album category in New York City on Sunday for her reading of her memoir The Princess Diarist.

The album, based on her diaries kept around the time she starred in the first Star Wars film, beat competition from musician Bruce Springsteen and politician Bernie Sanders.

Fisher is not the only star up for an award posthumously, with Leonard Cohen and Chris Cornell both being nominated.

She died in hospital four days after being taken ill on a flight to Los Angeles from London where she had been filming for sitcom Catastrophe.

A coroner found she had a cocktail of drugs in her system but could not determine whether they contributed to her death.

Los Angeles acting chief coroner Dr Christopher Rogers recorded her cause of death as sleep apnoea, where breathing cuts out during slumber, and various other “undetermined factors”.

Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd went on to say she “ultimately” died of drug addiction and mental illness.

Fisher had long battled conditions including bipolar and had become a prominent voice for those with the disorder.

Her Grammy triumph was announced during the pre-televised ceremony at Madison Square Garden.

The main show, hosted by James Corden, starts at 7.30pm local time, 12.30am on Monday in the UK.