The last social media message was from February 11th: a photo in a bikini on a beach in Florida, with a smiling face and no makeup and nothing to suggest the tragedy that would instead occur three days later, as the 36-year-old American porn star Kagney Linn Karter was found dead in her home in Cuyahoga, Ohio. According to the coroner's report, viewed on the TMZ website, it was a suicide, and according to her friends at her pole gym, the woman had been suffering from depression for some time. After landing in adult cinema in 2008, Karter was a familiar face in the hardcore scene, where she had won numerous awards: in 2010 she won an AVN Award (the Oscars of porn) for Best New Starlet, two years later she accepted Twilight of the Porn Stars, a BBC documentary about the porn industry directed by Louis Theroux.
“Despite all her impressive achievements and talents, Kagney has unfortunately struggled with mental health issues in recent years – her friends wrote on the GoFundMe page opened to raise funds to help mother Tina with funeral costs –. Yet even in her darkest days, she always showed up in the studio, always ready to learn, contribute, and improve in every small way. Although she undoubtedly felt alone in her thoughts, she continued to strive to be seen by her friends and the community she loved. He fought his battles with the same tenacity and drive he displayed in every other area of his life, and with all the strength possible.”
The fundraising goal was to reach $8,000, an amount that has already been more than doubled. Once the costs of the memorial service and burial are covered, the remaining money will be donated to a local animal charity, as Karter himself would have wanted.