Sharon Horgan Shares the Advice Carrie Fisher Gave Her Before Her Death: 'She Was Really Supportive' (Exclusive)

"I think about her a lot, mainly because I wish she was still around," Horgan tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "I wish I was writing parts for her."

Carrie Fisher left a lasting impact on Sharon Horgan after her sudden death eight years ago.

Fisher was just 60 years old when she had a heart attack while on a plane ride and died several days later in 2016, and Horgan tells PEOPLE in this week's issue that the advice the actress gave her sticks with her to this day.

"We bonded because we just got on and we had a similar sense of humor and she knew how much I enjoyed her. She was so funny and so quick," the Bad Sisters creator and star says.

Related: Carrie Fisher's Friend and Costar Sharon Horgan Reveals the Actress' Final Hours Before Fateful Flight — and Last Gift for Mom Debbie Reynolds

Horgan, 54, was among the last people to spend time with Fisher before she died, as the actresses had gone out to dinner with Salman Rushdie in London the night before the Star Wars alum boarded the plane where she suffered a heart attack.

"She was really supportive and used her experience to give you her advice on it," Horgan says. "And it was always about, 'Don't let the business overwhelm you, mad things are happening, and just always keep it about family,' that kind of thing. That was really, really important to her to pass that on."

Horgan specifically remembers Fisher telling her to "protect [her] relationship," referring to her then-husband Jeremy Rainbird, who she divorced in 2019.

"But it's not always as simple as that, is it?" she says. "Everything happens for a reason."

For more on Sharon Horgan, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

The last time Horgan saw Fisher at dinner in London, the actresses had been there working on season 3 of Catastrophe — the 2015 sitcom Horgan and Rob Delaney created and starred in about a couple who got pregnant after a one-night stand. Fisher joined in season 3 as Mia, the difficult mother-in-law to Horgan's character Sharon.

"She loved being in the show," Horgan remembers. "She loved getting a chance to play a character like that... And she loved the writing."

Related: Billie Lourd Says Carrie Fisher Died 'Too Damn Young' in Emotional Birthday Tribute: Today 'I Wanted My Mom'

The role in Catastrophe was particularly exciting for Fisher as Horgan reveals she "wishes that she had more of an opportunity" to play roles like Mia in her career.

"I feel like she had this unnecessarily long period of time where she wasn't working, where she would've liked to have been working. And I think because she was such an outspoken, honest person, she got the short [stick] in Hollywood. She was honest and outspoken when it wasn't [the norm]."

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Horgan continues, "I think about her a lot, mainly because I wish she was still around. I wish I was writing parts for her."

She finds solace, though, in how frequently the actress "comes up" on her social media feeds.

"It's mad, really. And I love it," Horgan says. "I love watching her. I love watching her be always the funniest person in the room."