Kimberly Kupps Dies Following Long Cancer Battle

VISALIA, Calif.—Veteran adult performer Kimberly Kupps succumbed last Thursday, June 13, to a case of cancer she had fought for many years, her husband, Warren Taylor, confirmed to AVN. She was 68. "I always loved Kim in movies and magazines. She craved the attention!" Taylor told AVN. Noting that Kupps was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, he explained that it recently metastasized into bone cancer. Prior to her death, she spent 11 days in the ICU before being placed in hospice on June 12, Taylor said. That same day, he relayed, "They took her to our house at around 6 p.m., by 12:30 a.m. she died in my arms." Kimberly Kupps got her start in adult movies in 1992, after dancing in nude clubs for some time and appearing in numerous men's magazines. Her first hardcore performance was opposite AVN Hall of Famer Sean Michaels in Sascha Alexander's Sarah Young's Sexy Secrets 2. She would go on to rack up more than 100 credits in titles for companies including Vivid Entertainment, Big Top Video, Leisure Time Entertainment, Caballero, Metro, Elegant Angel, VCA, Bizarre Video, Coast to Coast and many more. In 2012, Kupps and Taylor pleaded no contest to obscenity charges brought by Polk County, Florida prosecutors after a three-month investigation by the Polk County Sheriff's Office into the couple's production of adult videos in their local home that they distributed via their own website and Clips4Sale.com. In a plea agreement, 10 of the 13 charges against them, including a third-degree felony charge, were dropped, but the judge adjudicated them guilty on the remaining charges. Following that ordeal, Taylor told AVN, "We lost our home I built, 5,000 square feet. ... Once we were forced to move out of our home, we came to the free and beautiful California!" He added that a memorial service for Kupps will be held this Sunday at the Hadley Marcom Funeral Chapel in Visalia, located at 1700 W. Caldwell Ave., from 2 to 4 p.m.