UPDATE (Monday, Nov. 14): A GoFund Me account to help pay Shyla Stylez's hospital bills and funeral expenses has been opened. Click here for the story.
LOS ANGELES — The adult filmmaking community was reeling late Friday afternoon after learning about the passing of longtime star Shyla Stylez, who was 35.
Details of her passing have not been discerned at post time; James Bartholet confirmed her death to XBIZ via text and said a statement would be issued tomorrow. Bartholet was Stylez's publicist and manager when she was still active in adult.
Social media on Friday was abuzz with words of sorrow over the news.
“At a loss for words. So sad that my old friend @MsShylaStylez has left us,” Alana Evans, adult star and APAG vice president, said on Twitter. “You were one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known.”
Evans went on to note that Stylez was very much like Marilyn Monroe.
“Whenever she entered a room, it didn’t matter who was around, all you saw was Shyla,” Evans said. “Her energy and beauty consumed you instantly. And just like Marilyn, she has left us too early.”
At a loss for words. So sad that my old friend @MsShylaStylez has left us. You were one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known. ????????????
— Alana Evans (@alanaevansxxx) November 10, 2017
A close friend, Jesse Jane, who worked with Stylez on the big-budget Digital Playground movie “Pirates II,” posted a recent video on her Twitter account celebrating the adult star’s birthday.
Jane said on Twitter: “You're in a better place now but you'll be so very missed.”
RIP Shyla Stylez ????????????
— Jesse (@jessejane) November 10, 2017
Stylez shot more than 400 films during her adult career, which spanned 2000-2016. Some of her other stage names were Shyla, Amanda Auclair and Shyla Stylex. Her first name at birth was Amanda.
She was born on Sept. 23, 1982, in Armstrong, B.C., Canada. After high school, she moved to Vancouver and worked in the cams biz. In 2000, she came to Porn Valley, where she met Erik Everhard and started working for Anabolic Productions. Her first appearance was in “Perverted Point of View.”
Stylez later became a contract girl for Jill Kelly Productions and married company CEO Bob Friedland in 2002 (the couple divorced in August 2003). She made a porn-career comeback in 2006 and continued adult filmmaking through last year.
