LAS VEGAS—Former adult performer Raven Alexis, who held a contract with Digital Playground between 2009-2010 and went on to earn a 2011 AVN Awards nomination for Best New Starlet, died last Wednesday in Las Vegas after suffering an infection and sepsis from the Crohn's disease with which she'd lived for some time, according to social media posts by her husband. She was 35.
In a video posted to both Instagram and Facebook last Thursday, March 24, the bereaved (whom AVN is opting not to identify out of respect for the family's privacy) disclosed, "She went in Sunday night with some complications and some stomach Crohn's/colitis issues she had dealt with, ended up getting some infection and passed away yesterday at 12:44."
He went on to say, "I want all those people out there to know that she loved you all, she cared about you, and I'm just so blessed to have her in my life and be a part of my life. ... She was the absolute world to me, the love of my life."
Having started in the industry as an "internet model" who ran her own membership sites RavenAlexis.com and RavensPlayhouse.com, Alexis after parting ways with DP would secure starring roles in a string of high-profile projects including Exile Pictures' The Graduate XXX: A Paul Thomas Parody, Third Degree Films' The Official Revenge of the Nerds Parody and Axel Braun's This Ain't Ghostbusters XXX 3D for Hustler Video. She also won a pair of AVN trophies in 2011 for her scene in the DP feature Body Heat with Riley Steele, Jesse Jane, Katsuni and Kayden Kross—Best All-Girl Group Sex Scene and the Fan Award for Wildest Sex Scene.
The same year, she became embroiled in a widely publicized controversy surrounding her claim at the time to have been diagnosed with stage four cancer, which she spoke about in a "Howard 100 News" segment on Howard Stern's SiriusXM channel. The story was later called into question after her ex-fiancé publicly accused her of fabricating the diagnosis.
Photo of Raven Alexis at the 2011 AVN Awards © Glenn Francis, PacificProDigital.com
