Japan was still reeling from the death last December (reportedly due to pneumonia) of 36-year-old celebrity adult video (AV) actress Ai Iijima when news of another fatality of a female performer hit the newsstands.
This time, reports Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 17), the death occurred while still on the set, when the victim lost consciousness during a post-shooting interview. She was subsequently pronounced dead of “pulmonary-respiratory failure” — a catch-all diagnosis if there ever was one. A brain hemorrhage is suspected.
The actress, whose name was not given in the article, was 25 years old and nearing a full-term pregnancy.
“Pregnant women in adult videos are never forced to engage in intense activity or assume abnormal positions,” an AV director tells the tabloid. “Mostly sex is performed while they are lying on their side, or doggie style. Most fans of these kind of movies are not excited by sex per se, but get off by seeing the actresses’ swollen, dark nipples or bloated abdomens.”
Such films sometimes include close-up shots of the woman being worked over with a rotary vibrator or spread open with a gynecologist’s speculum.
“To meet the demands of dyed-in-the-wool fans, they’ve been using women with increasingly larger stomachs,” the director continues. “In previous films they were usually about six months along, but lately it’s become more common to use women into their eighth or ninth month.”
It is possible the deceased actress was killed by a thrombosis on the wall of an artery that traveled to the brain during intercourse.
“Since the body’s pH becomes more acidic during pregnancy, we can postulate that the condition of her blood wasn’t suitable for such a strenuous activity,” conjectures medical journalist Kuya Nishimatsu.
In many cases, expectant mothers perform in adult videos to help cover the costs of impending childbirth. Nikkan Gendai says the current going stipend is about 300,000 yen per appearance.
Nothing at this point is known about the baby’s father, but doubtless in the background of this tragedy are some sad and sordid circumstances that drove a young expectant mother to an premature death. (K.S.)
Source: “Satsueichu ni ninpu AV jo ga totsuzen-shi” Nikkan Gendai (Feb. 17, page 9)