LOS ANGELES — L.A. Coroner's Assistant Ed Winter has announced that legendary actress Marilyn Chambers died of "natural causes," which simply means that her death was caused by "a naturally occurring disease process, or is not apparent given medical history or circumstances." The phrase is meant to distinguish that type of death from one caused by "active human intervention," such as a murder or auto accident. He said that additional testing would be performed.
However, director Veronica Hart, one of Chambers' closest friends, told AVN that she had been in contact with one of Chambers' neighbors, who had informed Hart that Chambers had recently fallen and hit her head, leading to the possibility that Chambers suffered a traumatic brain injury in the fall, similar to that suffered by mainstream actress Natasha Richardson not long ago — an injury that led to Richardson's death several hours after the fall had taken place.
"I've been trying to find out what's happening with Marilyn's funeral," Hart told AVN, "so I've been calling everyone I can think of that might know something about that, and a lot of people have been calling me, asking when it will be, and whether they can donate something to help with the expenses. I've called Marilyn's phone numbers, but those numbers are being transferred to Peggy McGinn, who's her attorney, and I've left several messages there. I hope she gets back to me, because everybody wants to know what's happening."
Among those who have expressed concern is Lisa Mitchell, wife of the late Jim Mitchell, co-producer of Chambers' first adult films.
"We're really feeling for Marilyn's daughter and wondering if there's any way we could be of help with the funeral expenses or support or whatever," Mitchell said. "We met when [McKenna] was a little girl a couple of times, but I think she knows how much we care about her mom and her and her family. We would love to be of help if that's something she would like to ask about."
AVN is continuing to try to reach McKenna, but so far, she has been unavailable for comment.
