Carrie Fisher knew it was her time to go.

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher

The 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' actress passed away on December 27 last year at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles after suffering a heart attack and now her half-sister Joely Fisher has opened up about the moments before her sibling's untimely passing at the age of 60.

She said: "Mama Debs was already there. She told me she had talked to Jesus and prayed for more time, for Carrie, for herself, and for Connie [Stevens - Joely's mother]. Apparently she had a direct line. It was starting to get very real.

"Being in the room with Carrie [it felt] like she was hovering somewhere going, 'Kids, I'm not sure this is going to work out here.' ... Debbie did live for her daughter. She died because she couldn't be without her."

And Joely admits she "didn't know" her sister was "struggling" at the time but did know she had been battling bipolar disorder and addiction "her whole life".

Writing in her new book 'Growing Up Fisher: Musings, Memories and Misadventures', excerpted in People magazine, Joely added: "The family didn't attribute it to the struggle with drugs. [I didn't] know necessarily that she was struggling at the time. She battled bipolar disorder and addiction her whole life.

"I don't know that this was any great, significant moment that warranted us all having a discussion about it. I think that it was just the way she carried on her life. Never would I have imagined that this is how the story would end."