Carrie Fisher's last interview: Secret diaries, Harrison Ford and a love of art

Actress told BBC's Graham Norton she was 'embarrassed' at coverage of her affair with Harrison Ford and felt 'guilty' about revealing it

Carrie Fisher's television interview with BBC chat show host Graham Norton earlier this month was a display of the wit, warmth and frankness that won her a new legion of fans in later life.

It turned out, tragically, to be her last.

Fisher, best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, suffered a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles last week and died on Tuesday at the age of 60.

In The Graham Norton Show interview, Fisher discussed the events that made her one of the most recognisable actresses of her generation.

She appeared on the show to promote her new book, The Princess Diarist, a series of excerpts from the diaries she wrote as a 19-year-old while filming Star Wars.

“I’d forgotten I wrote them. They were in a storage room under my bedroom and so we brought all these things up thinking I’d put them in a book," she said.

“I found these three diaries and I was a little saddened by them. I’m very insecure in the books and I didn’t recall that I was that insecure."

The book revealed details of the affair between her and actor Harrison Ford, which took place during the filming of the Star Wars franchise, when Fisher was just 19 and Ford was 33.

After Norton pointed out it happened 40 years ago, she quipped: “I just remembered."

Fisher discussed the affair openly in the book but told Norton the revelation was difficult for her and admitted feeling “guilty” about revealing the relationship.

“I had no idea it would cause such a sensation. 400,000 news sites picked it up, and it became a little embarrassing for me," she said.

“They made a lot of things up which I now have to talk about – I never said he was bad in bed."

The actress said she had become friends with Ford’s second wife but had barely discussed the affair with Ford since.

“I can literally remember three times where I made some oblique reference to it and he [mumbled]," she said.

Fisher was also asked about scenes from Star Wars that were filmed while the affair was going on.

In one, her character tells Han Solo, played by Ford, that she loves him.

According to the film script, Solo is supposed to respond saying “I love you” but Ford, improvising, changed it to “I know”.

Asked if this was a “slap in a face” from her then-lover, Fisher said of Ford: “He’s not a very verbal person, but when he is, he’s very witty.

“He’s no people pleaser. It comes out witty and you have to take a second sometimes to realise it was funny. That is going to be in the Daily Mail tomorrow."

Fisher confirmed no one on the Star Wars set had been aware of the affair, saying: “I promise you no one knew”.

Appearing alongside artist Grayson Perry on the show, Fisher also discussed her love of art.

She said: “I buy a lot of art ... I discovered [video art] recently and it moves me.”

It was her own creative success, though - and a career than includes numerous films, books and TV appearances - that secured her worldwide fame and which ensures she will be celebrated, remembered and missed for years to come.