Tragic porn star Kagney Linn Karter says ‘Everything I choose to do is to secure a better future’ in poignant Louis Theroux interview before her shotgun suicide

Tragic porn star Kagney Linn Karter opened up about her hopes for the future in a poignant interview with Louis Theroux recorded at the height of her career.

The adult film actress, 36, is believed to have shot herself at her home in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, last week.

Ms Karter’s body was found at her address by her mother on February 15, Parma Police Department revealed. The force is continuing to investigate her death but told media there are ‘no signs of foul play’.

Broadcaster Theroux first tracked the world of male porn performers in 1998, many of whom were gay-for-pay straight men earning tens of thousands from gay porn studios.

He returned to the subject in the 2012 BBC documentary Twilight of the Porn Stars,  meeting performers from both sexes struggling to make ends meet thanks to the rise of free online porn.

He arrived at the LA home of Ms Karter, who was living with her boyfriend Montae Weathers – who described himself as her ‘full-time assistant’.

When asked what this involved, Montae said: ‘I give my input on what I believe that… you know… she should probably refrain from doing.

‘Like… for example… her agent called today and asked her if she wanted to do a boy-girl scene, but after the boy-girl scene, five guys come along and ejaculate over her…’

Montae told Theroux he advised against it but ‘she said she was gonna do it… you know.’

When Theroux asked Ms Karter about the scene, she appeared defensive and said she was surprised her boyfriend had mentioned it.

‘He didn’t want talk about it,’ she said. ‘So I’m actually surprised he mentioned it to you guys, ‘cos baby you won’t even talk with me about it.

‘You saying that I can’t do it cuts us out of two grand.

‘That cuts us out of money so that we can go on vacation and do nice things for ourselves, so that I can provide you with the clothes you put on your back, Montae.’

As Theroux tried to calm tensions, Ms Karter appeared even more resolute.

‘I know what’s best for us because I’ve been running this train for a long time now,’ she said.

‘Monte doesn’t understand that the reason that I do certain scenes is not because I am just a big whore. Getting five loads on my face is because I know that that’s the type of scene that might possibly win me an award.’

Theroux then interjected and said that as an outsider, it appeared Montae was ‘taking a lot’ by watching his girlfriend performing sex acts with others.

But Ms Karter gave this short shrift, pointing out that her work supported them both.

‘Montae gets to have lots of days off where he plays videogames all day too,’ she said.

‘Montae gets whatever he wants, he has a really good life that I provide for him. So, Montae has it easy.’

Theroux then waits in the house while Ms Karter performs a live webcam show. Her boyfriend is filmed wiping a kitchen bench with a cloth.

After the show is over, Theroux asks her how it went.

‘It was good, I made 100 bucks,’ she says.

He then asks her about her plans for the future. Poignantly, she talks about hoping to retire someday and settle down with Montae.

‘I definitely want to do like another seven years,’ she says. ‘By then, I think Montae and me will retire.

‘Everything I choose to do is just… to secure a better future for us. I’m always thinking about the future.

‘Sometimes it’s wearying, and I tell Montae, “I’m sorry that I’m always so concerned about money”. But for me, it’s really important that one day I won’t have to do this anymore.’

Montae then adds that many of the female performers in the industry don’t have a ‘ten-year plan’.

‘It’s more about getting their paycheck, going to buy the new Cristian Leboutins that they can fit on their feet. It’s not like that with her.’

Theroux concludes the segment by observing that Ms Karter brought an ‘incongruous professionalism to her commitment to extreme porn’.

‘It was hard not to worry about the toll it might take on her relationship,’ he added.

Speaking after her death, TV interviewer Louis Theroux remembered Ms Karter as a ‘kind and thoughtful’ person who was ‘v[ery] honest’.

‘My thoughts are with her friends and family,’ he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

It is thought that Ms Karter left Los Angeles in 2019 – the planned retirement year she described in Theroux’s 2012 documentary – to return to her roots in Ohio. 

A GoFundMe page was said up by pole dancing instructors Rachel and Megan to pay for Ms Karter’s memorial, which has so far amassed over $21,000 (£16,585).

The women described how Ms Karter first came to their dance studio in Cleveland, Ohio, in November 2019, and rose to the top of her class before starting a studio of her own.

They said: ‘She immediately warmed to the studio and all the students with an effortless grace… She spent so much time at the studio, sometimes taking five or six classes per week, and threw herself into her training. 

‘Watching Kagney flourish in an environment that made her feel confident and happy was a true joy.’

The women described their pride when Ms Karter graduated from their school and set up her own pole dancing studio.

‘Business ownership is no easy task, but Kagney never shied away from the challenge,’ they said.

‘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… The best version of herself.

‘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.’

They said they last saw her during a class on February 7, just over a week before she took her own life.

‘More than her beauty, her lovely dancing, her singing, her dazzling performances… Kagney was kind. Kagney was generous. As cold as the world could be, Kagney brought with her a light,’ they said.

Ms Karter started in the pornography industry in the early 2000s and starred in films such as the Official Silence of the Lambs Parody and Not Married with Children XXX.

The star was nominated several times for Adult Video News awards, including in 2011 for top female performer of the year. In 2010, she was nominated as best new starlet. 

Commenters flooded under her last social media post as one said: ‘Kags. Love you forever.’ 

‘Jesus, this is sad,’ another wrote.  

The adult star had previously had a public spat with signer Chris Brown in which she claimed that he paid her $2,500 to be an escort.

In 2015, Karter made the claims on Twitter and posted X-rated pictures, which eventually got her account suspended, according to TMZ. 

Brown for his part, denied ever meeting or contacting her.

She moved from Los Angeles to Ohio in 2019 and got involved with pole dancing fitness studios. 

Karter opened a pole dancing studio of her own in Akron called Alchemy Pole Fitness.  

‘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,’ said the GoFundMe. 

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