Amber Lynn

Early life

Lynn was born Laura Lynn Allen, the youngest daughter of a retired Air Force officer. She has four brothers and an older sister who died at the age of two from an undetected heart defect. When Lynn was three, her parents divorced after it was discovered her father had a family with another woman. Shortly after, Lynn's mother suffered a nervous breakdown, and Lynn was placed in foster care, where she was physically abused. She was reunited with her mother when she was seven. Shortly after, the two of them were involved in a car accident on the interstate; Lynn was thrown clear of the car while her mother, who was nearly decapitated, died at the scene.

Lynn and her brothers were placed with her father and his new family; in total there were 8 boys and Lynn in the house. When Lynn was eleven, her father died of alcoholism and heart failure. As a teenager, Lynn self-described her change as going from "pudgy kind of bucktoothed" tomboy to a "rocking little body". She started doing fitness modeling, bikini modeling, and hot body contests. She relocated to Hollywood and became a regular at the clubs on Sunset Strip.

Career

Lynn was a bikini and figure model in Los Angeles in the early 1980s; following this she was featured in magazine photo spreads for Penthouse, Hustler, Chic, High Society and Club magazines. Lynn's first adult film was Bobby Hollander's Personal Touch. In 1983, shortly after her photo spread appeared in Penthouse magazine, she went to an audition for a movie where the director was a well-known porn veteran. There, in an effort to calm her nervousness, the director offered Lynn a pipe with some freebase cocaine. It was her first encounter with the drug; she later described the feeling of being as, "It's as if the birds are singing. The light is brighter. All of a sudden I'm no longer this gangly nervous teenager. I'm sitting there going 'Oh wow!'".

Lynn was the first female performer to open the door for adult film stars to be featured in dance touring, being recognized for this accomplishment throughout the United States and Canada. Lynn was the highest paid female performer on the strip club circuit, making $32,000 a week.

Lynn has had roles in non-adult films such as Evils of the Night (1985) and 52 Pick-Up (1986), and in the television program The Man Show.

For her 28th birthday in 1992, Lynn hosted a benefit birthday party at the Bel Age hotel in Beverly Hills. The benefit was in honor of The Youth AIDS Foundation of Los Angeles, an organization providing housing and assistance for helping runaways get off the streets and teenagers afflicted with HIV, which was about to go under. An August 1992 issue of The Los Angeles Times quoted her statement on page two: "Let's give them food, clothing and shelter and we'll worry about role models later", alongside a shot of her dressed in a formal gown, holding an infant girl. This was a breakthrough moment for how the adult industry was viewed by the mainstream concerning its crossover involvement in children's organizations, as never before had a children's organization knowingly accepted support from the adult entertainment industry.

Lynn has opposed the Los Angeles "Safer Sex in the Adult-Film Industry" initiative, which mandates that actors in adult films shot in Los Angeles County use condoms. She has been involved in the first charity to accept contributions from the adult film industry, Youth AIDS Foundation of Los Angeles, since 1992. She also helps other charities such as Childhood Cancer Awareness, The Southern California Toy Run and Janie’s Fund, Steven Tyler's new organization.

Lynn hosts a weekly talk show called Rock’N'SeXXXy UnCensored on LATalkRadio.com and Stitcher.com. She is a member of the Adult Video News (AVN) Hall of Fame and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Free Speech Coalition. She continues to perform as an adult actress, most recently shooting for Naughty America in April 2016

Personal life

She is the sister of the late porn actor Buck Adams, who died from heart failure in 2008. On Lynn's second porn film she met Jamie Gillis, who became her long-time partner.

Lynn's drug addiction ran for nearly two decades. She once said, "I started out drinking Ketel One and slicing off crystals of Peruvian rock. I wound up broken down, drinking Kamchatka Vodka out of a half-pint stashed in the bottom of my purse, with my crack pipe stuffed in the lining of my jacket". She has been clean and sober since 2000, and occasionally works as a personal recovery assistant, helping addicts to detox. She also works in mainstream acting roles, as a webcam model on one of the largest cam sites online, and as a real estate agent specializing in luxury homes.

Notable TV guest appearances

Awards