LOS ANGELES—Adult performer Jordan Ash, who retired in 2015, died in mid-October at his Ventura, Calif. home after an extended battle with brain cancer. He was 42.
Ash’s close friend, fellow performer Danny Mountain, told AVN that he learned of the passing in November from another friend and performer, Charles Dera, who said at the time that he had just found out that Ash had passed away on Oct. 19. Dera told AVN that he had heard the news from a close friend of Ash's.
“It’s just sad to learn that he passed away [some time] ago, but in this COVID era, you stay apart and you lose contact,” Mountain said. “We were mates and spent a lot of time together, hanging out and working together. It’s a tough loss.”
Born in Florida, Ash joined the industry in 2005, performing in 1,685 scenes, according to the Internet Adult Film Database, for studios such as Brazzers, Evil Angel, Girlfriends Films, Hustler, Naughty America, New Sensations and many others. But he retired from the industry in 2015 to focus on his side business after a 10-year career that saw him earn the AVN Award in 2014 for Best Group Sex Scene for The Gang Bang of Bonnie Rotten, along with other awards and numerous nominations. But at about the same time he retired, he began suffering initial symptoms of brain cancer that impacted his work and relationships, Mountain said.
“It was little things at first. He just would forget things,” Mountain said. “He went to Australia, then Thailand, where he broke his foot and had to come back, but when he came back, he could hardly remember any of it. He said it was like a blur.”
Ash’s once happy-go-lucky demeanor turned more withdrawn and ultimately led to the end of his engagement with performer Jynx Maze in 2015, Mountain said—a stark change from the up-for-anything attitude that made the two men inseparable friends after they first met on a set in 2006.
“He just wasn’t himself and we could see that, but we didn’t know how bad it was until he was rushed to the hospital one day,” Mountain recalled. “That’s when they found he had a baseball-sized tumor in his brain. They had to do an emergency operation and cut it out.”
Although Ash would recover and become cancer free after treatment, the cancer returned in 2017, but this time the diagnosis was terminal. He was given between one to five years to live. He continued, however, to dedicate himself to his work and friends even as his health declined and his once fit 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame became a shadow of what it once was.
“You could tell he wasn’t the same, but he always wanted to get together and hang out,” Mountain recalled. “But you know, with COVID, it’s nothing to play with. If you have a pre-existing condition, it exploits that and takes advantage of your condition. It’s fucked up, so I didn’t want him to take a chance so I told him you gotta keep your distance.”
Mountain said he just wants to remember his friend as a kind and generous person who inspired him and brought much joy to him and others.
“He was a gentle giant, a lovely man. If you were his friend, he would go out of his way to help you. If you would call in the middle of the night with your car broken down, he would run out and come help you,” Mountain reflected. “It’s hard to know that he’s not there anymore. But I’m going to reach out to our friends and have a get together and have a drink in his memory.”
