Carrie Fisher has said she regrets signing away her likeness for free while working on George Lucas's first Star Wars film.

Fisher, who was 19 when she starred as Princess Leia in the hugely successful space saga, said she had no idea at the time that she would still be discovering new ways in which her image could be used for commercial gain more than three decades after the release of the film in 1977. Interviewed for the Daily Beast in a piece headlined "Carrie Fisher on how George Lucas stole her identity", the actor turned comic and author said she often felt like Minnie Mouse because the Leia brand had so completely eclipsed any other public identity she had.

"The mistake was I signed away my likeness for free," said Fisher, who is the daughter of 50s singer Eddie Fisher and Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds. "In those days, there was no such thing as a 'likeness', which is a funny thing to say coming from the family that I came from. There was no merchandising tied to movies. No one could have known the extent of the franchise. Not that I don't think I'm cute or anything, but when I looked in the mirror, I didn't think I was signing away anything of value.

"As I've gone along, people will come to me and say: 'We got the licensing from George Lucas to make these socks.' So my daughter can walk around on my face. How much money could I have made from all this stuff? I don't want to know. It's too upsetting. Yet funny."

Fisher, who fought a highly-publicised battle with drink and drug addiction in the wake of Star Wars' success, said she had even discovered a brand of marijuana named after Leia. "I never liked marijuana, so the fact that I'm a type of marijuana is ironic," she said.

Fisher said Lucas had never apologised for failing to reward her financially for the use of her image, but insisted she was not bitter. "Me having a tantrum in the corner for my cut of Star Wars toothpaste? I don't want to get into it."