SANTA ANA, Calif. — Jennifer Larsen, former talent coordinator at Hustler and PR and marketing manager at Digital Playground, passed away from an apparent suicide on Sunday.
The Orange County coroner confirmed to XBIZ that the cause of death was a perforating gunshot wound to the head. Larsen was 35 years old.
After leaving Digital Playground, Larsen worked for the U.S. Army National Guard.
Long-time friend and colleague James Bartholet said that he was not aware of any severe depression that Larsen was going through around the time of her death. They last spoke at an adult trade show in January.
“I thought we were going to hear from Jennifer,” Bartholet said. “She said, ’I’ve got a leave or something coming up and I’m going to come and visit with you guys.’ That was a month or two ago.
"I never heard from her and then the tragic news — one of our mutual friends called me last night. He said that she passed away. And as I was doing more investigation into this, it seems that she committed suicide.
“She was just a really wonderful person,” Bartholet added. “She was a really hard worker. She was always a good person to hang out with.”
Bartholet also noted that Larsen was a mother and that the incident occurred on Mother’s Day.
“Being a parent myself, I’m just shocked that she would do something like that because these kids are going to be scarred for the rest of their lives,” he said. “You know, Mother’s Day comes up and it’s going to be like ‘this is when my mother died.’”
Larsen studied at Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa, and graduated from Pacifica High in Garden Grove, Calif. in 1995.
She was living in Orange County at the time of her death.
