LOS ANGELES—Natalia Rae, a beloved model on MyFreeCams who was the April 2023 AVN CAMStar, passed away on Sept. 2 in Costa Rica, friends confirmed to AVN.
She was 33.
Rae had been on a vacation with a group of friends and family when she died; she had posted on her Snapchat on Sept. 1 that she suffered an injury to one of her lower extremities and was resting in her hotel room. Additional details were not available at post time.
Natalia’s sister used her X account to share the sad news on Wednesday evening.
She said: “Hi all this is Natalia’s sister, and I hate that I have to do this. While on vacation, living her best life as always, my light of a sister passed away. I know that she was as much a light in your life as she was in mine, and the way she spoke of you all told me how much she meant to you I am so glad that she was able to share that amazing, exciting side of herself with all of you, because she truly was one of the best people on this PLANET, and hope you all feel as lucky as I do to have known her, to have loved her, and to have been a part of her life.
“To make things so much worse, we were out of country. It’s not cheap to bring her home to her family where she belongs, and we have had to start a gofundme to help bring her back! Anything you can contribute will help a lot to give her the service she deserves.
“Thank you for loving my sister, she means so much to me and it matters more than you can imagine that you all were there for her.
“Stay wild, wolf pack.”
A former flight attendant for United Airlines, American, Delta and Alaskan, the Arizona native Rae went full time on MFC over six years ago. A two-time AVN Awards nominee for Favorite Cam Girl, she referred to her loyal members on MyFreeCams as the “NatPack.”
Rae, who moved to Texas two years ago, also managed a spa, bartended and did hair prior to starting her streaming career; she debuted on cam in October 2016 but didn’t make it her focus until 2019.
Ashley Love, the October 2022 AVN CAMStar, recalls meeting Natalia seven years ago in a cam model group chat.
“She actually reached out to me because we share the same birthday,” Love tells AVN. “We immediately clicked. We were so close. We were very fortunate that we lived right near each other so we used to hang out constantly. Her family very quickly became my second family (and my family quickly adopted her as well). Her family is some the best people I have ever known.
“Nat and I’s friendship was more like sisterhood. We clicked really well personally and I think that translated really well on cam. We won Best Cam Duo for the Alt Porn Awards two years in a row.”
Ashley continues, “It was crazy how fast we clicked. We were the same person. We both grew up in similar (big) families, and we were both really sharing people. I never thought I’d have a friend like her, who would become my best friend, and will always be my family. She was the maid of honor at my wedding.
“We were always going on trips together, whether it was a family vacation, a work trip or just an excuse to see each other.”
Because Ashley and Natalia lived so close, sometimes when things were getting slow on cam, they would show up at each other’s house and cam together instead.
“Even when it didn’t pick up online, it was just better when we were together,” Ashley adds. “We’d usually end up camming until 3 or 4 a.m. and then stay up till 6 or 7 laughing and forgetting we ordered Jack in the Box before we fell asleep—we’d find it when she left the next day.
“Every time we were together we would just get lost in our rambling for hours.”
Ashley tells AVN that Costa Rica became Rae’s favorite place to visit.
“She even had a tattoo of the popular local expression ‘pura vida,’” Love says.
Rae started out as a receptionist at the salon spa and got promoted to a management position when she was 19. She went to a high school that offered a program that allowed her to attend cosmetology school during her junior and senior years. After graduation, she worked at the salon for a couple years until she moved to L.A. where she participated in LA Fashion Week, doing hair and makeup.
As a bartender, Natalia did shifts at dive bars, sports bars and in casual/fine dining restaurants, but her favorite bartending job was at a strip club.
Always up for an adventure, Rae loved traveling and doing outdoor activities such as off roading, camping and hiking. Some of the other places she visited included Mexico, Belize, Greece, Italy, Colombia and New York.
This past January, Natalia was one of the CAMStars presiding over the official ribbon cutting ceremony to open the 2025 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Emma Starseed, the September 2023 AVN CAMStar and 2025 AVN Favorite Cam Girl winner, says she had been looking forward to seeing Rae on Friday and was still trying to process everything.
“It doesn’t really feel real,” Starseed tells AVN. "It’s Camp Emma month and I am doing a big pool party stream and she was supposed to be part of that. … She was supposed to be with me like tomorrow.
“I’ve known Nat for years online and I really got to know her better this past AVN actually. She and [ItsLo] and I hung out together in the hotel room before the awards show.
“She was actually the one holding my hand before I won. I was really nervous and she was encouraging me. She said, ‘You’ve got this, you’re going to win.’ She told me that and I just remember her squeezing my hand as you all announced my name at the awards. I almost fell over, but she was there to hold me up.”
Emma continues, “We became closer friends during that time and I got to see her a couple more times since then. She also was based in Texas; we were making all these plans together as our friendship developed over the last year.”
Starseed tells AVN she asked Rae to model for her 2026 Camp Emma calendar. Natalia shot her photos with photographer Olivia Wildin in Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas.
“I asked her to be my January model, this was a huge project I’ve been working on over the last six months to unveil this month,” Starseed says. “I wanted to choose my friends who I felt like really brought their own special beauty and energy and love to what they do.
“I wanted her to be part of it because of who she is. The more I spent time with her I already felt like we had been friends forever and I had known her for a long time. She just had that energy about her. I think I am grieving also for the friendship that was blossoming and becoming, you know. ... She also was just one of the hardest workers. She cared so much about what she did. She had a work ethic like no one else.”
Fellow MFC model and close friend, Brizzy, set up the GoFundMe to help bring Rae home.
Brizzy posted, “Our dear, sweet, loving, vibrant friend, Natalia_Rae, has passed away unexpectedly, leaving us heartbroken. Her body is currently abroad, and her family needs help covering the costs to bring her home and give her the farewell she deserves. Any contribution, big or small, will make a difference. Thank you for your love and support during this difficult time.”
To donate, click here.
Brizzy and ItsLo at post time had begun doing a stream on MFC with all their tip proceeds going to the GoFundMe. Click here to join their live stream.
ItsLo, the October 2023 CAMStar and co-host of the 2026 AVN Awards, posted a tribute to Natalia on her X account.
“Beyond a friend, or a 'work wife,’ or any of those things. A free spirit who radiated nothing but love and compassion, cared for her friends and family deeply, and was an absolute ball of light even in her dark moments.
“We can all agree that knowing her was an absolute treat and a blessing.
“Gem of a woman, gem of a soul.”
Emma Starseed adds, “She was just very well loved by everyone. There’s not a single person who could say anything negative about her. She was a light in our community. Her members adored her and her model friends adored her. These are real connections and real friendships we have. We weren’t just work friends. Camming is how we initially start our friendship, but it’s so much deeper than that. She was just a beautiful, bright, kind soul inside and out. ... She made everyone feel welcomed and was always a joy to be around.”
