Carrie Fisher was sent to a "fat farm" before appearing in Star Wars

Carrie Fisher was sent to a "fat farm" before appearing in Star Wars.

The 60-year-old actress says she was told to lose weight before taking on her role as Princess Leia in the first instalment of the popular science fiction franchise in the 1970s.

Asked by The Late Show host Stephen Colbert if she was told she had to shed the pounds before filming, she said: "They did...they always do. They want to hire part of me, not all of me. So they want to hire about three fourths...so I have to get rid of the fourth somehow...

"The first movie I had, I guess you'd still call it baby fat. I would like to call it that, but it was probably just fat. So I went to a fat farm where they harvest fat.

"I was there and Lady Bird Johnson and Ann Landers, who were my peers at the time. Lady Bird couldn't figure out the name of the movie I was going to be in - kept thinking it was Car Wash. Ann Landers had a lot of advice for me, which obviously I didn't take."

Meanwhile, Carrie previously revealed she had to lose two-and-a-half stone to reprise her role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

She said: "Nothing changes, it's an appearance-driven thing. I'm in a business where the only thing that matters is weight and appearance. That is so messed up. They might as well say get younger, because that's how easy it is...

"When I do lose the weight I don't like that it makes me feel good about myself. It's not who I am. My problem is they talk to me like an actress but I hear them like a writer."

- NZ Herald