Why Mark Hamill Said He Couldn’t Handle Carrie Fisher as a Girlfriend
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher shared a lovely friendship. Up until Fisher’s tragic death in 2016, the two continued to keep in touch, and over time they developed a sibling-like relationship. Yet, at one point in time, Hamill had developed a crush on Fisher. However, as much as he liked her, he wouldn’t have been able to handle his Star Wars co-star as a girlfriend. Keep reading to find out why.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were attracted to each other
Hamill reports in a 2016 interview with The Guardian that he and Fisher “were attracted to each other.” The only problem was that Hamill didn’t believe in dating his co-stars. While starring in a soap opera before Star Wars, he was in a serious relationship with one of his cast mates. Unfortunately, they ended breaking up mid-season. This caused terrible friction on the set, and nearly destroyed his acting job.
Another factor into why Hamill and Fisher never dated was because Fisher was already engaging in an affair with their co-star, Harrison Ford. As Fisher revealed in her memoir titled The Princess Diarist, she fell hard for Ford.
Fortunately for Hamill, he was utterly oblivious to the fact that there was a secret romance going between his co-stars. Although the idea of their affair makes him laugh now, he admits that it would have negatively affected him at the time.
“I’m glad I didn’t know before, as it probably really would have affected me,” he told The Guardian. “By the time I found out, I just thought it was hilarious. But you know men – even if we don’t want to have a relationship, it’s just in our nature to jockey for affection.”
Mark Hamill said he couldn’t handle Carrie Fisher as a girlfriend because she was too high maintenance
In a 2017 panel dedicated to Fisher, Hamill talked about his friendship with his co-star. He said that a part of him had fallen in love with Fisher and that he had “fallen under her spell.” But despite his attraction for Fisher, he said she would be too difficult to keep up with as a girlfriend.
“As attracted as I was to her, I thought, ‘I couldn’t handle her as a girlfriend,” he revealed during the panel. “She’s too much. She’s what you would call a high-maintenance relationship,'” he laughed.
But apparently, Hamill also felt as though Fisher was too good for him. “She could make you feel like the most important person in the world,” he said. “I mean, if I’d had a relationship with her, it would have been like a full-time activity because she was too much for me in every regard: she was too creative, she was too smart. She was just the best.”
Mark Hamill couldn’t stop thinking about Carrie Fisher after her death
Following Fisher’s death, Hamill couldn’t get Fisher off his brain for years to come. And during the panel, he discussed his grief.
“Let me tell you when I go to sleep at night, there’s never a day so far where I don’t think of her,” he said. “And when I think of her … she’s looking down from the celestial stratosphere with those big brown eyes, that sly smile on her face as she lovingly extends me the middle finger.
