Friends and colleagues pay tribute to the recently deceased XXX icon.
Jesse Jane and I were nodding off against a wall at the Las Vegas airport in the mid-2000s, waiting for our flight back to L.A. following a long porn convention week. I spotted Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee across the terminal, as he slowly creeped over to us. When he got close, he dropped to his knees and reached out to grab Jesse’s hand. The two had a brief fling the year before, and it quickly became clear that they haven’t seen each other since it ended. “Oh, baby, I’ve missed you so much,” he declared. “I think about you all the time. Why’d you change your number, baby? Damn, you look so fucking good!”
Jesse just stared at him until he was done. Then, after a quick pause, she burst into laughter. “Seriously?” she asked. “That was pathetic. Rock stars don’t act like this!”
That’s what made Jesse Jane so special; unlike some of the other big-time porn stars of the day, Jesse was actually a real person, not some manufactured phenomenon. She was trainable, but not tameable. She let you know when you were being a douche, yet was very approachable—a far cry from many of the other porn heavyweights in her orbit. Her life wasn’t scripted, and you never knew what would happen next when partying with her. It’s what set her apart from everyone else. Sadly, the 43-year-old Jane was found dead on January 24 at her home in Moore, Oklahoma.
“I’ve known some big stars, but none were like Jesse. Her star burned brighter than them all. She was a big, beautiful rainbow, a unicorn and a princess all rolled into one perfect woman. I don’t think we will ever see someone like Jesse again.”
