CLEVELAND, Ohio—Celebrated adult performer Kagney Linn Karter, who collected three AVN Awards over the course of her career, including Best New Starlet in 2010, died Thursday at her home in the Cleveland, Ohio area. She was 36.
According to a GoFundMe page set up by friend Megan Lee to help Karter's mother cover her memorial service and final expenses, Karter took her own life in her home. Local medical records confirm her date of death as Thursday, February 15.
Lee noted on the GoFundMe page that Karter moved to Cleveland from Los Angeles in 2019, and became involved in the fitness studio Lee co-owns there. She would go on to start her own pole dancing studio in nearby Akron, Lee wrote, observing, "Business ownership is no easy task, but Kagney never shied away from the challenge. Her students and staff remember her incredibly fondly, both as an intelligent and intuitive instructor and as an owner who did all she could to build a little community of her own, something of which she could be proud, somewhere she could feel safe and wanted."
Lee added, "Unfortunately, despite all of her many impressive accomplishments and talents, Kagney struggled with mental health issues as the years passed by. Even in her darkest days, however, she still showed up to the studio, always ready to learn, contribute, better herself in whatever small way she could manage. As alone as she undoubtedly felt within the confines of her own head, she continued to make an effort to show up for her friends and the community who cared about her. She fought her own battles with the same tenacity and drive she showed in every other area of her life, with as much strength as she could."
Born in Texas, Karter first entered the adult industry in 2008 after being named a regional Déjà Vu Showgirl of the Year for 2007. She had a distinguished career that included a stint as a contract girl for Zero Tolerance Entertainment, starring as Kelly Bundy in director Will Ryder's Not Married With Children XXX and as Clarice Starling in Gary Orona's Official Silence of the Lambs Parody, and being showcased by director William H. in Elegant Angel's Kagney Linn Karter Is Relentless. She remained semi-active as a performer through last year, during which she appeared in releases from various Gamma Entertainment brands, Girlfriends Films, MYLF, New Sensations and more.
Lee's remembrance of Karter went on to read: "[M]ore than her beauty, her lovely dancing, her singing, her dazzling performances, her business savvy and instructor certifications and loyal fanbase ... Kagney was kind. Kagney was generous. As cold as the world could be, Kagney brought with her a light. On her good days, when she was most herself, she could warm up a room with her radiant smile, get others laughing in no time at all. She was all brightness and bubble, with never a cross word to say about another. She forgave easily, gave second chances, saw the value in the small details. ... She loved deeply. And, because of that, she will be missed just as deeply."
