Olivia Lua/InstagramAnother adult entertainment star has passed away in the latest spate of deaths within the industry, over the past three months.
Olivia Lua, who also went by the name Olivia Voltaire, passed away on Friday aged just 23.
Her agency, LA Direct Models, announced in a statement on Friday she died while in rehab.
The statement read:
Much comment has recently been made on the number of adult stars having passed away in the last year and with the great sadness we must inform that the list has grown longer.
We learned today that Olivia Lua passed away this morning – may she rest in peace.
Olivia had not been available for work since early October of last year, as she had been facing some personal challenges that had seen her in residential rehab for a period of nearly three months.
She had been out for about a month, hoping to make a return to work in the early part of this year.
We learned today that she had returned to a different facility in West Hollywood after a relapse, approximately a week ago, at which she was found deceased this morning.
Though no official cause of death has been determined, the statement continued:
Family and close friends said they had deep concern at the volume of prescription drugs prescribed to Olivia and the danger this posed to her.
If this was mixed with recreational drugs or alcohol, it is believed this to be the cause of her passing.
Olivia Lua becomes the fifth adult star to die in the last three months following the tragic and sudden deaths of August Ames, Shula Stylez, Olivia Nova and Yuri Luv.
Stylez was found unresponsive at her mum’s home in British Columbia aged just 35 while August Ames was found dead in a park aged 23.
Yuri Luv was found dead shortly afterwards aged just 31, while Nova was confirmed dead by her agent aged only 20.
Though many of the deaths remain relatively unexplained among ambiguous circumstances, experts in the field of mental health have other theories as to why so many porn stars are in the news having died well before it was their time to go.
Steve McKeown, a psycho-analyst, founder of MindFixers and owner of The McKeown Clinic, told UNILAD:
Nearly 90 per cent of women in the sex industry said they wanted to escape, but had no other means for survival and also experienced post traumatic stress disorder at rates of nearly 70 per cent equivalent to veterans of combat war.
Dr. Gail Dines, author of Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality, and Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality, explained to UNILAD why this is happening and how we can stop it.
In a nutshell, the #MeToo campaign has somewhat silenced the sex industry more than ever and while it liberates women in other lines of work, it’s become an even bigger barrier to others.
Dr Dines said:
Just imagine everyone is telling their stories of rape and assault and being listened to, and you know full well that if you come forward, they’ll just say ‘what did you expect, you whore’.
As in any industry, people have different experiences depending on a whole number of circumstances.
While in Europe, independent porn stars like Harriet Sugarcookie are able to control every aspect of their career, the rules in America are different.
Dr Dines continued:
What I do know, because I’ve been doing this work for many years and worked with many women who are in the porn industry and have exited it, is that given the violence that happens to their bodies, given the diseases they get, they come away with PTSD because they’re raped regularly on the porn set.
Just because they’ve signed a contract doesn’t mean they’re consenting to what goes on at the porn set. A lot of them are not prepared for what’s going to happen to them.
A lot of them are young, they think they’re going to be a ‘pornstar’ like Jenna Jameson was. They’re not prepared for the violence.
Regardless of how you feel about the porn industry, there’s clear evidence things need to change so the premature deaths of these young women stops once and for all.
As humans, we have a duty of care to each other regardless of what line of work someone chooses to go down, someone’s background or religion.
RIP Olivia Lua and all the other adult stars who have passes away.
Taking the idea of ‘being woke’ to a whole new level over a decade-long career in sport, court and online news, George has worked for titles and agencies including ESPN FC, Eurosport, LADbible and Court News UK. He may not have a degree but does have an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.