Marilyn Chambers Dead at 56
Adult film actress Marilyn Chambers, the onetime Ivory Snow model who gained greater fame as the star of the X-rated “Behind the Green Door,” was found dead Sunday by her teenage daughter at her home in Southern California. She was 56. Authorities have not released a cause of death. Suicide would not be a big surprise considering what has happened to many other porn stars.
“I have to say that the adult films have been a total pleasure,” she said. “They were like getting paid to live out my greatest fantasies” – Marilyn Chambers
“Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled but whoremongers God will judge” – Hebrews 13
“In the last days walking after their own ungodly lusts. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” – 2 Timothy
Statistics on Pornography
At 12 billion a year, the revenues of the porn industry in the U.S. are bigger than the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball combined. Worldwide porn sales are reported to be 57 billion. To put this in perspective, Microsoft, who sells the operating system used on most of the computers in the world reported sales of 36.8 billion in 2004. Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year more than 20 times the mainstream movie production. Last year, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, pulled in $50 million from adult programming. The U.S. Customs Service estimates that there are more than 100,000 web sites offering child pornography worldwide.
Megan Leigh – Age 26
Her body was discovered on June 16, 1990 at her home in Solano, California. She had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. According to former porn performer and message board contributor Brandy Alexandre, an autopsy discovered a lethal dose of Valium in Leigh’s system. Porn historians, including Luke Ford, have said that Leigh had recently entered a lesbian relationship and had moved in with her girlfriend, when her family reportedly denounced her for her decision to enter into a same-sex relationship. Reports claim that she had become despondent by her family’s rejection, and had been abusing drugs before her suicide.
Shauna Grant – Age 20
As a fast-rising adult film personality she was featured in Virginia, Suzie Superstar, and Flesh and Laces 1 & 2, among many others. Her pay rose from $300 a day to nearly $1,500. As Shauna Grant, she made dozens of popular adult movies. On March 23, 1984, Grant committed suicide in Palm Springs by shooting herself with a .22 Long Rifle. Shortly after 7 p.m. she lay down, placed the gun horizontally against her head, and pulled the trigger. The shot passed through her right temple, out the left and into the bedroom wall, according to police reports. The gun was discharged from such close range that the bullet left virtually star-shaped holes. Brain dead, Shauna was rushed to Desert Hospital, where life support systems were disconnected after two days.
Alex Jordan – Age 31
Alex entered the adult business in her mid-20s, an age when most actresses are getting out. She and her husband thought it would be a good way to finance a comfortable middle class future. She won the 1993 Adult AVN Awards for “Best New Starlet”. Jordan’s best friend was her parrot, and when it died, she went crazy. Speaking on the telephone to her husband, she accused him of not caring about her. His crime? Lack of sensitivity to her feelings about her bird’s death. She wrote a note describing her depression over the loss of her bird, and on the 27th of June, Alex hung herself in her closet.
