Carrie Fisher dishes the dish on ... herself

Carrie Fisher knows all about celebrity fixations. How can you not, when your mother, father, stepmother and ex-husband are all big celebrities? And when you became pretty famous yourself, after co-starring in one of the most successful movies of all time, at the tender age of 20?

But Fisher has beaten the paparazzi to the punch for decades. In self-penned, autobiographical novels like "Postcards from the Edge," and lately in her solo theater piece (and her book) "Wishful Drinking," she's turned her Hollywood existence into an open book.

Fisher, who debuted the show in her hometown Los Angeles in 2006, is performing it here for the first time, at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Directed by Tony Taccone, "Wishful Drinking" is in previews now and opens Tuesday.

It's a tell-most (if not quite a tell-all), delving into such topics as Fisher's substance addiction and bipolar disease, and her relationships with her parents (movie star Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher), and longtime affair and short marriage with singer-songwriter Paul Simon.

Fisher says she's all about "finding the ordinary in the extraordinary."

Chatting by phone last month from Los Angeles, the acerbic writer-performer claimed that "except for the focus people put on it, the life of a celebrity is not that different from any other. It's ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances."

Well, sort of. Few of us ordinary mortals can claim Hollywood royal Liz Taylor as an ex-stepmother. Or say that Paul Simon wrote a few tunes about us, including "Graceland."

And it's not ordinary to have a Pez dispenser and action figures molded in your image — as Fisher has, thanks to her early, iconic role as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" films.

Fisher's ability — no, make that compulsion — to bare her soul and laugh at her own expense fuels her self-mocking accounts of the Princess Leia experience in "Wishful Drinking." (She writes, "George Lucas ruined my life. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.")

She'll even fill you in on the seesawing mental illness that plunged her into a long, deep funk — and landed her on the cover of Psychology Magazine.

"Some of the positive things I do have, in terms of my humor and my ability to gain insight into certain experiences, I would not have without my bipolar illness, " she said. "I wouldn't need the humor to get through it."

Her clinical depression was alleviated eventually by electroshock therapy. The once-controversial procedure is less taxing now, she noted, "and in a depression that makes you not want to be alive, where medication doesn't help, it's worth trying."

Fisher was also one of the first showbiz folk to address her own substance abuse, most memorably in her roman à clef, "Postcards From the Edge," made into a movie starring Meryl Streep.

Fisher says the film exaggerated her frictions with mom Debbie Reynolds for dramatic effect.

Her fondness for Reynolds is evident — both in the loving depiction of her quirky parent in "Wishful Drinking," and in the fact that Reynolds lives next door to her in L.A.

By happenstance, their paths also crossed in Seattle. Reynolds headlined a recent concert with the Seattle Men's Chorus, and celebrated her 77th birthday Wednesday with Fisher.

Sober now and in "great shape," Fisher has been through a lot of rehab, therapy and group support to get where she is.

"There's a saying they have in Twelve Step, which is that you are only as sick as your secrets," she said wryly. "Given that, I'm a very healthy chick."

Despite her own public candor, however, she's no fan of cable-TV "reality shows" like "Celebrity Rehab."

"I don't like that stuff. You don't get sober in front of people. Rehab is hard enough to do on your own. But to make it into a spectacle and entertainment while you're going through it ... "

As if anticipating charges of hypocrisy, Fisher quickly added, "Maybe it's no different than me making [rehab] a spectacle afterward. But it seems like the people who do these shows are those whose careers aren't going so well. So they're using this illness as a way of getting their career back. That's sad."

Despite her off-camera ups and downs, Fisher, now 52, has often worked as an actress since her high-profile 1970s roles in "Star Wars" and the hit comedy, "Shampoo."

Her four novels have sold briskly. She's also penned screenplays, including a new one for a possible four-hour cable-TV version of her novel, "The Best Awful." And she doesn't stick her nose up at invitations to appear at the occasional "Star Wars" convention, either.

Fisher also has doted over her daughter Billie, 16, — the product of a short marriage to talent agent Bryan Lourd, who, according to "Wishful Drinking," left Fisher for a male lover after deciding, post-wedding, that he was gay.

Fisher insists she is perfectly comfortable chatting onstage about such painful matters. "I was giving a lot of speeches for a variety of things," she recalled, "and my show was a natural extension of that."

There's some talk of "Wishful Drinking" heading to Broadway, after its well-received stands in the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and Boston. Critics have largely praised Fisher for her droll, Dorothy Parker-esque quips, and her stash of choice Hollywood anecdotes.

But it is the live audience response that is most gratifying to her.

"The audience is really, really good to me," Fisher said. "It's almost like they direct the show, because their reactions influence how it goes from night to night."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com