Adult actress and ex-girlfriend of Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen, Brett Rossi, on Wednesday defended fellow porn actress August Ames after she died Tuesday in Camarillo, California, after reportedly hanging herself.

Ames faced a Twitter backlash Sunday, with many calling her homophobic, after she advised an adult actress against performing with an actor who had featured in adult gay movies.

Suggesting that the backlash may have contributed to Ames taking her own life, Rossi tweeted, "A life wasted simply because HER opinion didn’t mesh with YOURS."

On Sunday, Ames received a huge Twitter backlash for posting a tweet where she told the "(lady) performer" replacing her for a shoot with porn film company Erotica X that "you’re shooting with a guy who has shot gay porn."

Reactions to the tweet were swift, with one user even directly asking Ames whether she was a homophobic person.

She defended herself against the charge, saying she was not, adding that many girls don’t shoot porn scenes with male performers who had done gay porn because of safety issues. She also said that she didn’t want to put “my body at risk.”

She followed with another tweet, saying she was attracted toward women herself and hence she couldn't be a homophobic person.

Ames also tweeted Monday, replying a user who told her to apologize, "I don’t have anything to apologize for! Apologizing for taking extra steps to ensure that my body stays safe? F--- you guys attacking me when none of my intentions were malicious. I f------ love the gay community! What the f--- ever! I CHOOSE who I have inside my body. No hate. ”

However, there were some who did support her in this. One Twitter user tweeted supporting Ames on the fact that she did not want to work with crossover performers. She replied to saying that "most" of the women she knew did not work with crossover performers.

Others also weighed in on Ames’ death on Twitter, pointing to the maliciousness of cyberbullying.

“Not an OD,” wrote Ben Domenech, publisher for The Federalist. “She spent three days getting attacked on Twitter as a homophobe and then hung herself. That’s on you, cyberbullies.”

“So August Ames hung herself after being cyberbullied for not sleeping with a gay porn star,” another user wrote. “The hatred of people when hiding behind the internet has no bounds. Like she can’t decide what to put inside her own vagina without comments. LOG OFF AND GET A PUNCHING BAG OR SOMETHING.”

Ames, real name Mercedes Grabowski, was an established adult actress, appearing in over 290 porn films. She won the Adult Video News (AVN) Awards twice, in 2015 and 2017.

As the reason of her death Tuesday was unknown at the time, some of Ames' friends reportedly claimed that she might have committed suicide as she was suffering from depression.

The Ventura County, Ca. Health Care Agency confirmed Wednesday that Ames death was caused by asphyxia due to hanging. A public information officer of the agency told International Business Times that the “manner” of the death is “suicide.”

Ames was married to adult film director Kevin Moore. In a statement, Moore said, “She was the kindest person I ever knew and she meant the world to me. Please leave this as a private family matter in this difficult time."

Ames, who was quite active on social media platforms, kept her marriage away from the public. Moore, who is 20 years older than Ames, started off as a self-titled computer nerd who even hacked his college’s intranet.

After working as an administrator for Unix, he ended up in the adult film industry as a freelance photographer and then as a producer and director.

When he asked as to why he got into porn, he said, “I feel very strongly that adults should be allowed to express themselves sexually with other consenting adults. Repression is a terrible thing.”
He added, “Everyone knows it's fake, yet people still love it Just like horror movies and other forms of entertainment, porn allows people to escape the stress of their life and for 15 minutes live out some sexual fantasy they probably will never experience.”

Others in the porn fraternity too took to Twitter to mourn her death.

Porn film director Jules Jordan tweeted, saying Ames was one of the “nicest people” he ever knew.

Adult director Mike Quasar tweeted, “Love one another kids. 23 is way too young. Such a sad day."

Another adult industry performer, Abella Danger posted a tweet describing Ames as "beautiful soul."

Adult performer Kissa Sins posted pictures of her with Ames, accompanied by a caption which mourned the deceased actress.

Meanwhile, porn website Brazzers on Twitter said they will be rescheduling a film of Ames for a more "appropriate" time.

Meanwhile, according to a Facebook post which was deleted, Ames' brother James Grabowski said, "Bullying is not a joke." He then added, "It took my sister's life and I can't get her back. This pain I feel cause people couldn't keep their opinions to themselves is unbearable, although I have nothing but hate for each and everyone of you people who drove her to this i still do not wish this pain on you."

He continued, "This has forever changed me and who I am as a person. I guess I can't hide from the rumors and the messages won't stop. This will be my one and only post and then i would like to be left alone."

"I lost my baby sister yesterday. There is no replacing a love and bond like I had with her. She was my rock and I was hers."

He also said that he was sorry for the times he might have bullied or hurt anyone. He added, "Mercedes [Grabowski] I will not let this go and will continue to do what's right and try to be a voice for you for the rest of my life so that others don't have to endure the pain you felt and the pain your love ones now feel."
He ended by saying, "I love you baby girl."

RELATED STORIES
Twitter