Christina Applegate has fought breast cancer and has had a successful career. So have Melissa Etheridge, Robin Roberts, Sheryl Crow, and Kathy Bates.

Ingrid Bergman died of breast cancer, as did Fannie Lou Hamer, Rachel Carson, Dusty Springfield, and Lynn Redgrave.

I don’t think one of these groups represents “good…

“To our hero because you never give up and teach us that everyday.”

I am totally down with your comment, except: People do get shamed for having clinical depression (“snap out of it,” “get over it,” “you’re letting everybody down,” “I don’t see why you can’t just...,” etc.)

I read and dismissed this because I did not think that demonizing people for addiction was even a thing anymore. I was proven wrong by the comments on this thread.

Good vibes.

You do realise that your goddaughter will grow up, yes? Someday she will be choosing her own role models. I’m a teetotaling never-tried-drugs square myself, but I am honest with my own children (in age appropriate ways) about “unpleasant” subjects like mental illness and addiction because, one way or another, they…

She WAS a good person. Through her writing and stage performances (one woman shows etc.) she helped many people also suffering from mental illness to understand their disease. I am one of them. As a person with bipolar I literally owe the real Carri Fisher (as distinct from the role she played as Princess Leia) my…

Mental illness and addiction don’t make someone a bad person and aren’t about not having a high enough standard. Good gravy. This kind of stigma kills people.

As an addict:

I hope you’ll think twice about what you tell your goddaughter, Juben. Plenty of good, strong, kind people become addicts, for a lot of reasons, including family predisposition. I’m a recovering alcoholic and I’m a strong person, a good wife, a loving mother, and a responsible member of society. I’m sober now, but I…

This is the problem though... People like you who continue to demonize those who suffer from a disease. Have you ever shamed someone with Clinical Depression before? No... You wouldn’t... Addiction isn’t a choice. It’s a disease. Teach your children to be better than you.

Ahhh, the “personal responsibility” trope, yet again. Addiction is not a choice. No ody wants to be an addict. They may want to take drugs, but not be an addict. Addiction has a genetic component (googleable at the NIH) as well as being a social response to one’s personal history. Given that she suffered from mental…

My sis has risen above her addiction and now helps others who have addiction problems. She will be the first person to tell you that she is an addict forever and fights it every day. She is MY role model and she is a great person. She is flawed like all of us, but her sickness does not make her immoral.

Nope ... you said “she’s not a good person” because she was an addict. That’s trolling. Move along.

If she is a fan of Fisher, then her past with drugs should CLEARLY be a part of what your goddaughter knows. The reason she’s an idol is because of all the the things that make her her. Your post is just plain wrong - you are the one who is “not a good person” to make judgments about someone’s character you a)…

That is an incredibly cold and closed-minded message to send to your goddaughter. I am sure you were made a godparent for very good reasons. To paint a woman who was bipolar, an addict, and honest about both subjects, as “not a good person” is many things. Godly is not one of them.

Being a drug addict doesn’t automatically make a person ‘bad’ just like not doing drugs doesn’t make them ‘good’. Those types of value judgments only help if you’re looking to stigmatize and demonize people rather than help them. Maybe teach your goddaughter than no one is perfect and that even good people can make…

If you’re calling out someone struggling with addiction and mental illness for the majority of their life out for “doing drugs” as a role model, you’re missing the big picture. Like really missing it.

Sure. Make sure you tell your goddaughter that you aren’t a good person, either. If only you’d held yourself to a higher standard, you might feel some empathy, or understand that people can be good and be flawed at the same time.

Yeah no she isnt a good person sweetie. You see she had mental health issues and took things that daddy doesnt approve of to deal with them.