Suicide, deaths threats and prison…the bleak lives of world’s most famous porn stars as Zoe Parker dies aged 24
FORMER porn star Zoe Parker has died at the age of 24.
Zoe is just one of the many world famous adult stars whose life turned tragic. Here, Fabulous Digital examines what happened to some of the world's biggest sex stars.
reportedly died in her sleep on Saturday, according to a from her fiance.
on September 12th at around 2 am," the GoFundMe set up to help cover funeral expenses said.
"She was only 24 years old."
Zoe had just recently announced becoming engaged, after moving closer to her family, according to the GoFundMe.
"After leaving the adult industry, Zoe Parker moved back home to Texas to be near her family to start a new life," the GoFundMe said.
"She had started doing great and recently announced her engagement and by all accounts seemed truly happy for the first time in her life," the page added.
Zoe's cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Jenni Lee, another big name in the porn industry, sent shock waves across the industry when she was found by a Dutch film crew sleeping in a rat-riddled tunnel under Las Vegas.
Although the 37-year-old is now homeless, the former actress claims that underground people - many of whom are struggling with drug addictions - are "more accepting" and she feels like she has made "genuine" friends.
It’s a shocking indictment of an industry which is notorious for using up young talent.
August Ames killed herself aged just 23, Mia Khalifa faced death threats from ISIS and Janine Lindemulder ended up behind bars.
“It is a very fast-paced career span, even if you are in it for a long time it is still very short,” Scottish-born singer and actress Raylin Joy, who worked as the adult performer Skin Diamond, told Fabulous Digital.
“Because a lot of the new girls will pop up for a year or two maybe. Unless they are the top girls of the industry, they just sort of disappear into obscurity.”
Raylin adds that it can be hard to move on from porn. She said: “Sometimes the stigma that can come with porn is too much for some girls to handle.
"Because it is not even the porn world that can really get to girls, it’s the bulls**t that girls can experience from the outside world.
"People think they have this idea of porn and that if you are a girl who does it then you must be a little bit weird or something.”
“When the camera is on, everybody is happy,” behavioural scientist Gad Saad, a chair at the John Molson School of Business in Montreal, who studies the porn industry, told Fabulous Digital.
“The problem is that the work dries up. The phone stops ringing, and they say, ‘Now what?’
"Porn stars aren’t the best at making a ‘what if’ plan for their future.”
Here, Fabulous Digital looks at the fates of some of the sex industry's biggest stars...
August Ames: Killed herself aged just 23
Canadian August Ames started her sex career in 2013 and became one of the most popular porn stars on the internet.
Her videos on Pornhub gained more than 425 million views and she amassed a net worth of £374,000.
But the 23-year-old, who was married to porn film director Kevin Moore, 43, tragically took her own life in December 2017.
Shockingly, August was one of at least five adult performers who died due to alleged drug overdose or suicide between November 2017 and January 2018.
The Jon Ronson podcast The Last Days of August delved into the tragic case. There were reports that cyber-bullying was to blame for August hanging herself in an LA park.
But Jon concludes that it was actually a disturbing and violent scene, filmed just six weeks before she died, that was more likely to be the trigger for August taking her own life.
Mia Khalifa: Death threats following hijab scene
Lebanese-born former porn star Mia Khalifa received death threats after filming a sex scene wearing a hijab.
The 26-year-old claims ISIS shared images of her being beheaded, hacked her Instagram and posted a picture of her flat online.
Mia, once voted PornHub’s most-watched star, retired from porn in 2015 and has subsequently spoken out about an industry which "preys on callow young women" and "traps women legally into contracts when they’re vulnerable".
She said: "Finding a normal job after quitting porn was… scary. People think I’m raking in millions from porn.
"I made a TOTAL of around £10,000 in the industry and never saw a penny again after that.”
Mia has since worked in Miami as a paralegal and bookkeeper. She transitioned it into a career as a social media personality, webcam model and sports commentator.
Janine Lindemulder: Prison for unpaid taxes
One of the biggest adult stars in the 90s, Janine, 50, appeared in several music videos and was the sexy nurse on the cover of Blink-182’s 1999 album, Enema of the State.
She was also married to Jesse James, who later went on to marry Sandra Bullock.
Although Janine retired from porn in 1999 to try and become a kindergarten teacher, in 2004 she made her adult movie comeback.
After a custody battle with Jesse for their daughter, in 2008 she went to prison for unpaid taxes.
Lolo Ferrari: Suspicious death aged 37
Lolo Ferrari was known as "the woman with the biggest breasts in the world" thanks to her 36TTs, and was happy to poke fun at herself on TV show Eurotrash.
But the French porn star led a tragic life.
Abused by her parents and then married to man who later became her pimp, Lolo - real name Eve Valois - stated that the 22 surgeries she'd subjected herself to were a product of an intense self-loathing.
“All this stuff has been because I can’t stand life,” she said.
In 2000, at the age of 37, she was found dead by her husband, who was arrested on suspicion of her murder but later cleared.
Odette Delacroix: Depression
US-based porn star Odette Delacroix, 28, has spoken out about her depression after a spate of suicides in the sex industry.
“Adult performers get smacked around emotionally - they get it from every angle even within the industry,” she said.
“Plus, we’re all afraid to talk about any problems we have because it’s so competitive - if I say I’m depressed they’ll just use someone else.”
She adds: “I don’t know if porn makes people depressed or if people who are depressed are more likely to be drawn into the industry.”
Odette revealed that bullying - both online and off - is a huge issue in the industry.
She said: "There isn't a day in my career I haven't had abuse from someone either online or in person.
"When my local high school found out about my career I was stripped of all my awards - they literally took my name off the wall."
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