Sophia Lynn

10/31/06

Heather Veitch is in L.A. for a week as one of four main characters on Stephen Baldwin's reality show pilot for VH1. They've been going to porn sets (Adam & Eve) and KSEXradio.com and talking to porn girls such as Kendra Jade and Sophia Lynn (A&E contract girl) and trying to get them to see the light. Stephen's approach is more aggressive than Heather's. TV wants drama. They want to capture people turning their lives around on a dime. But that rarely works. It is usually fake.

Sophia is sweet and gentle but she has no intention of leaving porn. She loves porn. She feels like she belongs.

November 11, 2006

Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn

All night I wonder about the identity of the sophisticated blonde at the end of the line wielding a video camera. Finally I tell her I've not seen her before at one of these events.

"And I hope you'll never see me again," she says.

She's with ABC's Primetime and they're following Sophia Lynn and Sunny Lane around for a few months for a piece that will air in January.

Former Adam & Eve Contract Girl Sophia Lynn

One Who Knows emails Feb. 15, 2007:

Saw your post on Sophia Lynn. I've talked to her regularly over the past two weeks. She's living outside of Tampa now. There's no sugardaddy. There's no house. Maybe there was supposed to be but I'm sure it was all talk. These clients (which I'm sure is how she found the sugardaddy) like to talk, talk, talk. Anyhow, she claims she was in a bad car accident which caused her to disappear. She seems clean of drugs now and is trying to get back into XXX. Unfortunately she lost her agent and her Adam & Eve contract.

Sophia Lynn says Ava Rose got her into drugs.

Sophia Lynn gave up custody of her child to get into porn.

Sophia lost her Adam & Eve contract after not showing up to the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas in early January 2007.

March 13, 2007

Sunny Lane's Parents Say She's 'the Girl Next Door, Turned Hard Core'

Mike and Shelby Lane a few years ago at Sunny's skating Sunny Lane Sunny Lane and Shirley Temple Sunny Lane, Vince Neil Sunny Lane, Vince Neil Sunny Lane and her mom Shelby Sunny Lane, Roger Pipe Shelby, Mike Shelby, Mike Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn smokes Sophia Lynn smokes Sophia Lynn smokes Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn Sunny Lane Injured Girl Injured Girl Sophia Lynn smokes I photograph Heather Veitch talking to the Satanist at the Extreme Associates booth Heather Veitch as a teen Lukeisback.com on Primetime Sophia Lynn Sophia Lynn

Sunny's dad says she could've turned out worse. "She could've gone gay on us."

Here's the audio of the first seven-minute segment on Sophia Lynn. Part two.

Sunny Lane. Conclusion.

Some choice quotes from the show:

"The fantasy that Sunny is selling is that she's underage."

"I have an empire. I have a massive team backing me," says Sunny.

"When she comes back home [from a porn set], I just ask her how her date was," says Sunny's dad Mike.

"Her parents made a cameo appearance in one of her films [Dark Angels 2]."

"Most parents would be horrified," says therapist Fred Kahane. "It doesn't sound like mom has a lot of protective genes."

Sophia Lynn says her Christian family found out within a week that she was doing porn.

"I have very low self-esteem," Sophia says.

ABC: "She lives on energy drinks, stomach medicine and sugar food. And she's always rushing from one appearance to the next."

Sophia keeps saying how tired she is.

ABC: "Sophia often doesn't know where she's going and what she has to do."

"At the club, I'm getting paid to go," says Sophia. "They want me to drink and talk to people, whatever."

ABC: "It's like she's just going through the motions."

Heather Veitch shines. "You can't have the life of a porn star without getting wounded."

Sophia Lynn: "Either they want to get under you, on top of you or run you over."

"Do you understand how lonely it gets?"

ABC: "She's now suspicious of every man she meets."

ABC: "Sunny makes her stay at the [Bunny] Ranch sound like a teaching gig."

Sunny: "I taught them confidence. I taught them how to love themselves."

On the HBO show Cathouse, Sunny says: "Yes, I sell my body. Why not enjoy it?"

ABC: "Sunny says she did it just to help the ranch get publicity."

Sunny: "I gave it a try to see what it was like and I realized it was not for me."

ABC: "Not for her? According to Dennis Hof, Sunny turned tricks for almost a year and gave him half of her earnings."

ABC: "You were a prostitute at the Bunny Ranch?"

Sunny nods. "For a moment."

ABC: "Mom and dad say that the Bunny Ranch experience was a positive one."

Mike: "She was able to see how safe the environment was. They were fed regularly."

Shelby: "They had a chef, maid."

Mike: "They were tested. I know exactly where she's at."

Sunny about the porn industry: "They're always pushing it to the envelope and beyond."

ABC on Sophia Lynn: "She's been told she's not performing well in her scenes."

ABC: "One day on Sophia's set, another girl is injured when her partner is too rough."

Injured Girl: "I think he saw an opportunity to take advantage of that I wasn't going to say much. I wasn't going to stop the scene altogether. I don't want to be blacklisted."

Who is this girl? Who was the guy who injured her?

Fred Kahane: "Most of them do compartmentalization. They don't feel much. But you can't just turn the heart on and off."

ABC: "Fred Kahane says many performance split off or numb themselves with drugs."

ABC about Sophia: "She calls home, struggling to hold on to the person she used to be."

Sophia: "Hey mom, it's your baby girl. I love you. I'm still your baby girl, k? You've got to say a prayer for me."

Sophia's sister in Tampa: "I felt like she wasn't my sister. Somebody else was taking over."

ABC: "Sophia turns back to her Christian roots."

Sophia is shown walking happily with Heather Veitch.

But Sophia keeps making porn.

Heather: "She has to be tough right now to continue doing it."

Heather: "At 14, I was raped. It just changed me. I became promiscuous. I thought sex is what makes me good."

Mike, looking at his daughter Sunny: "She looks great. I picked that outfit out. Those legs. Those are skater legs."

ABC: "While at the conference, [Sunny's parents] looked at getting anatomically correct sex dolls molded of their daughter."

Lukeisback.com and XPT are shown speculating about Sophia's disappearance from porn.

Sophia talks about her drug abuse and spiral downward: "When you surround yourself with the wrong people because they are the only people who are really around, you tend to just go with whatever."

ABC: Sophia was arrested a few years ago on drug charges and just after she started making adult movies, Sophia lost custody of her daughter.

"It takes your meaning away," says Sophia. "When you lose everything, what do you do? You do other things to make you forget."

Sophia moved back to Florida with her sister and claims to be done with porn. She wants to become a speaker at churches.

Sophia's main goal is to regain custody of her daughter.

She's trying to make it in the spa business.

ABC blanks out a lot of faces in the show. Is this because they have to or are they just being nice?

Tod Hunter, Mark Kernes and many pornographers say a porner should never talk to the mainstream media because whenever it profiles porn, the odds are high that porn will be make to look bad.

Porn looks horrible in this Primetime piece. So was Primetime distorted or is porn that bad?

In most in-depth reports, porn looks bad.

Primetime reveals that Sunny worked for almost a year at the Bunny Ranch.

A1R3K writes on GFY: "WOW! This Primetime show is really trying hard to make adult look bad. Sunny Lane is rocking it though. Glad to see that there are girls that can take the heat from the slanted journalists with ulterior motives and turn it around on them."

StickyGreen posts: "They're basically playing the "poor girls are abused and on drugs" card. Most sluts these days are on drugs regardless of being involved with porn."

A1R3K writes:

sophia lynn sold us all under the bus as the "wrong people" to hang out with. i want to meet the person that went to her house with a gun and made her go into the adult business. that sucks that she was hunted and dragged from her cozy little bed into the business. i bet she didn't do anything voluntarily. go figure we kidnap people from their homes. cry me a river. this is a business, the few models that have treated it as such are millionaires. the ones that drug out and stay fucked up end up a trainwreck. go figure, she ended up a trainwreck.

RawAlex writes: "This only goes to support my point of view when it comes to the media and porn: they will only pick up the weirdest and nuttiest things and run with them. Which means any time anyone in the industry does something stupid, that is what the media is likely to use to broad brush us."

Anthropophobiac writes on XPT: "Parents are not supposed to support their daughter's porn "career". It's wrong! In every possible way. Period. I don't care if they are trying to "protect" her or whatever, Sunny Lane's parents are her pimps. They are pandering her. They are making a living off of her daughter's orifices. Now, that is something to be proud of, isn't it?"

Katy Zvolerin: 'Shame on Primetime'

I emailed all the industry publicists I knew for their reaction to the show and whether they would recommend to their clients to cooperate with a similar show in the future.

At least half of the publicists had not seen the show.

Adella from Digital Playground replies: "I don't like not having any control over the project and edits. We have never participated in any of these shows."

Katy, the publicist at Adam & Eve, replies:

Shame on Primetime for its tabloid-esque attack on the adult industry. It�s unfortunate that we optimistically keep giving these �news� outlets access to our business, our contract stars and our sets, only to have our stories twisted and edited beyond recognition. I believe this episode of Primetime simply reinforces the viewers� beliefs on the adult industry. Those who were morally opposed still are. Those inside the industry and willing to see beyond the smoke and mirrors of network �sweeps� recognize how responsible this industry, as a whole, truly is. Would Adam & Eve do anything differently now that we�ve seen the final edit? Definitely. But I believe it�s important to remember that we are in the entertainment (albeit adult entertainment) business, and we have to keep trying to get our message across. Even when we know the message that will be presented is not the one we intended to give.

Tricia Devereaux writes on ADT about Sophia Lynn: "I was in Tampa with the girl for a week, and she had major issues that NOTHING to do with porn."

Bloggers Horrified By Sunny Lane

I put "Sunny Lane" into technorati and found bloggers were appalled that Sunny's parents managed her career in sex work.

I've noticed that everybody identifiable in and around the video industry (such as Tara from Freepornstarpix.com and Mike South) say that Sunny was fabulous on Primetime. The GFY webmasters as well as the general public (who've made a public comment) were disgusted by Sunny.

John Turner blogs: "I am all for parental involvement in their child's career but this just feels...creepy. It may, however, explain why ABC News is garnering top ratings for its evening newscast."

Elusive Butterfly writes:

I am an open-minded person. I have seen my share of adult movies. But there is just something creepy about the idea of Mom and Dad playing such a big role in a daughter's pornography career. What are they getting out of this? They admitted on camera that porn has been their "marriage counselor" all the years (30) they have been married . How much are they being paid to approve of it? Would they approve of it if they didn't make money?

At one point, the reporter had questioned about the parents making money off of Lane. Lane seemed offended and said her parents do not make money off of her...within about 15 seconds, she stated she paid her parents for their work as her manager. They don't make money off of me...I pay my parents. So, which is it?

Lacy writes on MySpace:

Jonas and I were a little horrified, especially looking at our beautiful baby girl knowing she wouldn't live that life or anything remotely similar. I watched as this proud father helped pick out outfits and say he's happy that his daughter is having sex with these other actors and not a man that would break her heart. OMG!!! Oh and tons of pictures covered the walls of their home featured and scantily clad, sometime nude daughter. And at this huge Vegas convention her father was talking about how hot his daughter looked. The mom wasn't any better either, she packs her daughter's bag full of her "clothes" for her next movie shot or promotion. Sunny's parents were even looking into getting an anotomically correct doll of their daughter manufactured to market. Ewwww.... These proud beaming parents reminded me of a child's parents after they win a spelling bee. They were quoted as telling their daughter, "if you got it, flaunt it!" Oh and Sunny Lane is fine with it and doesn't see a thing wrong with it. She wouldn't have it any other way and enjoys what she does. I just don't know, I was appalled, grossed out and just shocked. I knew there were some way-off parents out there, but I would have never imagined that. It's just wrong. It made me feel icky.

So, was the line crossed? Yes. It was trampled. There are bad parents out there and sick ones too. I've now come into a whole new definition of a bad parent and one that gives me the creeps. It's beyond bad to bring your child with you to commit a sex crime. Plain and simple. And it's sick to be a parent that endorses and seems to enjoy their's daughter's life as a porn star. I just am not sure what to expect any more these days. All I have to do is turn on the television and there's a whole new extreme.

Mike Lee posts:

Good job Heather and Sophia's family, who continued to reach out to her and pray for her in the midst of her wandering. Good job! I can't help but wonder if God hadn't used "Heather" in the capacity He did. What if she, after being saved and reformed, listened to the "pharisees" and only spoke in churches about the dangers of porn? Sophia, and other girls like her, might otherwise never hear God's story.

Miss Kristen blogs:

Sunny Lane is such a cute girl...her family is creepy though, very very creepy. The first time I saw her was in this cute lil ballerina outfit...which now gives me the heebie jeebies cause her mom prolly made it for her to wear that day, while her pa stood on the sidelines watching. I have nothing bad to say about pornography, and I think parents should support their children in all their choices...unless they're a massive druggie or hooking on the streets...but there is a such thing as going too far.

DJVelvetPants blogs:

Sunny Lane is apparently, a very big commodity in the Industry. She has "image consultants, pubic relations experts, security, lawyers, and managers"- HER PARENTS. Her parents manage every corner of her career (they moved into her apartment in LA-amid thousands of naked pictures of her everywhere). HER PARENTS. I continued to keep an open mind and give them the benefit of the doubt, trying desperately to see through the thick shroud of "normalcy" they tried to portray for the camera. I'm sorry, but no parent in their right mind would allow their daughter to objectify herself like that. They are her pimps no matter what way they want to rationalize it.

During an interview with Primetime producers, Sunny's father admitted he would rather see her have random sex with complete strangers [in all the movies she stars in- (she comes home from what they like to call "dates")] then to have a REAL boyfriend who is just "going to end up hurting her in the end." (which end? Just kidding.) What?! Are you serious? Honestly? You really believe that? God lord. Then. Then! He looks at the camera and with the strongest conviction says, "At least she didn't turn gay." What?! You'd prefer to raise your daughter with no shred of morality whatsoever then to love her if she were gay. You sick bastard. I couldn't go on watching after that. (Another thing he exposed to the camera was his looking at his daughter in a really (really) short skirt commenting on her nice legs.)

This is sicker than anything I have seen in on TV in a long time. The brother and sister couple I mentioned before I did not think were as appalling as this family.

I feel very sorry for Sunny. She doesn't deserve to have to live like this. I think she has it harder than most in this Industry (I'm guessing) because her parents are so deeply involved, she has no one to give her guidance and advice. She has not place to go that's "safe." No place to really call "Home." She says over and over in the interview that she is the one in charge, but is she really?

Sunny Lane Smashes Porn Stereotypes

Tara writes on FreePornStarPix.com:

The interview revealed that Sunny comes from a very stable home, and when her ice skating career was curtailed by injury, she looked for another place where she could be it in the spotlight and found in the adult industry, with the proud support of her parents! Take that one, conservative America!

After winning all of the adult dancer awards possible, Sunny spent some time at the Bunny Ranch where she learned a great deal about how to make a man feel good. The ranch acted as a sort of X-rated finishing school, and after a very successful time there, the next step for Sunny was of course videos.

As usual, the tv crew tried to twist things, but Sunny and her family handled them easily.

Heather Veitch Was The Star Of Primetime's Porn Show

I call her at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Heather: "I've met Sunny Lane and spent time with her in the bathroom. She really is the sweetest girl. People are starting to email me, 'That girl Sunny Lane...' I don't know why they think we're called to judge her."

John writes to Heather Veitch's MySpace page: "Sunny is probably the best actress I have ever seen. She has been acting so long she actually believes she is happy. The poor girl has parents who are more interested in fame and money at any cost. Sunny needs some DEEP prayer. However, we still have a God that Loves her and wants her to come to Him as she is. I pray for her soul."

Primetime

Mike South writes:

When will porners learn that there is no way a primetime television show is going to paint this business in a fair light. Primetime's Outsiders wasn't ten minutes into the show before they made the child pornography link, the lost soul link and the which one "escaped" link.

Sunny presentted herself and the business extraordinarily well, with her youthful exuberance and her enthusiasm and positive outlook it's hard to see her as any sort of prisoner who needs to "escape" no matter how ABC tries to paint the picture. But that isn't why "Outsiders" wanted Sunny, they wanted her because her parent's help manage her career. That's the hook for the audience, painting them as bad parents. I like Sunnys parents and I commend them for supporting their daughter, if it works for them who am I to judge?

The other girl they found was the perfect story for them, a sunday school teacher who reluctantly goes into porn and loses her "soul" but can't get out because the money is so good blah blah. They did hit on the fact that she did drugs but they down played the amount and essentially blamed the industry for her "imprisonment". Because she blew off her obligations to her Company that contracted her, Adam and Eve, they considered this "escaping".

When Adam and Eve signed Sophia Lynn I actually questioned it. Sophia's rep wasn't verry good, but she was a really pretty girl. I know Adam and Eve's interview process for a contract girl and they are very professional and thorough. In the end Adam and Eve handled the whole thing professionally and probably learned a little something in the process, no doubt signing her cost them a lot of money.

But lets get back to the show....around the middle they had footage being shot and some really stupid mother fucker injures the female talent in a "rough sex" scene, genius....whoever did that shit (director and male talent) should be booted from this biz FOREVER. Of course they won't be. The rough sex and "extreme" sex was a recurring theme in the show as well...sadly on this one, we are guilty as charged.

Has it occurred to anyone in this biz that the reason we are losing market share and companys like Adam and Eve and Digital Playground are doing better and better is because people are tired of the train wrecks? Has it dawned on any of these idiots maybe well shot, fun and sexy scenes are more erotic than trying to come up with new ways to degrade, injure or try to kill the girl?

In the end Sunny represented this biz better than anyone ever has on primetime television, kudos to her for that!

AVN's Mark Kernes: 'ABC's 'Primetime' Parties Like It's 1994'

Mark writes:

The first segment deals with Sunny Lane, but the show spends more time following Sunny's parents, Shelby and Mike Lane, than it does the star herself. True, the elder Lanes are in Sunny's employ for various services... but what Quinones and Primetime's editors are obviously most interested in is how the Lanes could possibly live with the fact that their daughter gets naked on camera and performs sex acts with relative strangers.

Of course, with the couple's strong Southern accents, it isn't difficult to edit the piece to imply that something salacious has been going on among the three of them ... and it doesn't help matters that the cameras catch Mike hugging wife and daughter and declaring, "We're a threesome, right?"

It pretty much goes downhill from there.

Primetime

Lee Noga posts on JBM:

I cannot believe nobody has anything to say about the one hour Primetime show, "The Outsiders" couple nights ago and their 35 minute piece on the porn industry involving "Sunny Lane and Sophia Lynn"... Don't know the names or the girls, nothing special but they seem to have been at the last internet show [AVN] from what I could see on the TV. Unbelievable, these girls really think they are celebs, young and reckless thinking this money is gonna last...then they showed, "Holy Hottie" an ex-porn star turned minister trying to get these girls out of the biz because its going to affect their psychie for many years.. AND THE MOST BIZZARE...was Sunny Lanes parents [60-ish] as her biggest fans [she is a hardcore porn star], groupie, show attendee and managers seeing nothing wrong with their daughters career....they totally pimp her but with a Christian like innocence....very bizzare...her parents watch her on the set f---ing....dunno 'bout you..but da-yam.... Sunny Lane plays a young cheerleader coed type trying to capture the under 18 fantasy...she is nothing spectacular but has an ego the size of France.

OMG, I have seen it all since I date back to 1988 in the biz, hell it was hard for me to be on hardcore shoots....the parents totally creeped Lee Noga out and that is monumental...exactly, when the Dad called her sex partners, "Dates" it was so bizzare to see how they compartmentalize what their daughter is doing and how they view it has harmless and healthy. The psychologist was spot on when he talked about pornstars who emotionally split off and disassociate so they can do the sex scenes. No breaking news here that they turn to drugs to get thru the scenes.

I remember years ago when I published Max Hardcore on one of my CD's. I got a chance to interview him and of course I asked some tough questions. There was a time when Max portrayed himself as "rough and animalistic" with his sex scenes. I asked him how does he turn off that character and separate Max out of the cheek pounding animal when he meets somebody in a personal relationship. He admitted to me he has to look at the sex as a form of "rape" to get excited...

His answer was you cannot separate it out but to him making love to a woman he cares about is more emotional than sex. It was the all the things that were not sex that gratified him...that was he yearned for. Right there I knew male or female, pornstars sell their emotional stability for the money.

If I were back in the business now, I think I would join the quest to helping those that want to get out of the business and find themselves again. I am really interested in this "Holy Hottie" pornstar which is the name she goes by. She is a minister trying to help those that are trying to get out of the business. I am not talking about the amateur market....these ladies can draw their lines and control how they are marketed. It is the woman that sell out to Adam and Eve etc, that get billboards and commercialized that really are suffering emotional damage.... I wish I could interview Sunny Lane personally or Sophia Lynn...I think their stories, attitudes and circumstances make for some excellent rubber necking radio...

Sophia Lynn see's the writing, it is Sunny Lane that is going to fall hard, and her parents will be nothing more than collateral damage...who for some reason I think hold some blame here.

12 Clicks writes: "I call my porn shoots "dates" too. what's the big deal?"

March 16, 2007

Sophia Lynn's New York Boyfriend Claims She Died Of Cancer But She Lives

He sent out that text message Friday morning, March 16. He meant that she was dead to the porn world. "Sophia Lynn," the stage name of the woman born with the first name Crystal, is no more.

Sophia Lynn recorded her last ABC interview about two weeks ago in Las Vegas with Heather Veitch. I thought she looked fine, but a closer examination of that last footage shows she's not well.

Lynn's sickness delayed ABC's last videotaping of her by about three hours.

Sophia was on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show on Sirius radio Thursday.

Friday evening she spoke with Heather Veitch and said she was OK.

About six weeks ago, Bella Models booked Sophia twice for clients in Tampa Bay. One client gave no feedback. The other client booked her for three hours but cut her loose after two hours.

About a month ago, Bella texted Sophia: "Are you OK? I heard you were dying of cancer?"

Sophia freaked out and that was the last that Bella and Sophia communicated.

When I spoke to Heather Veitch Tuesday night, she said that Sophia had a very difficult path in front of her.

I didn't realize what Heather meant until I was told Thursday that Sophia's boyfriend said Sophia had terminal cancer.

"The hardest part for me in this entire ministry," Heather told me this week, "is the serious hopelessness that I see. It's not that these girls don't want help and don't want to change. So many of them are in situations where I don't have a clue how we can get them out. The only thing that I rely upon is that I know that she knows that God loves her.

"When you get into people's lives and see the truth of what's going on and the desperation, and I can't even say, 'Just do this and everything's going to be OK.'"

Luke: "People don't get into porn because they are on top of the world."

Dean Wormer posts on XPT: "Maybe it's the personae Sophia Lynn not the individual who portrays Sophia Lynn. Just a fancy way saying she quit the biz."

A few months ago, Bella Models sent Sophia Lynn to New York where she met a client who became her boyfriend and sugar daddy who was supposedly going to buy her a house.

He claims to have been paying her medical bills.

Friday, he sent by text: "Sophia is dead."

Sophia Lynn apparently posted to the ABC forums on March 14: "Thank you for your kind words. I was very afraid of the outcome of the story. I hope people will see that not every person in the industry is a disgrace to mankind. we make choices in our life that we feel is the best for us. It may not be the right choice for another or right at all. But everyone does the best job they can in life."

Tricia Devereaux posts on ADT: "I was in Tampa with the girl for a week [in October 2006], and she had major issues that NOTHING to do with porn."

Dan at Genesis magazine responds: "I hear you Tricia. I was down there too, and even spent some time around her. She was a train wreck. It's funny that she claimed somewhere else that Ava Rose got her into drugs when she had prior probs LONG before entering adult."

Sophia tells a lot of stories. She has claimed to have been raped by various people, including at least two guys at LA Direct Models (not Derek). She claims to have an EMT license and to be a licensed contractor and to be connected to the Mob.

9/11/07

Steven sends out this MySpace bulletin about Sophia Lynn:

Oh my god this girl is a dum whore she not only owes me $860. she is a liar and a thief, She talks mad smack on everyone in the industry and she tried to fuck over Derrick at LA Direct models by geting an agent that works for him to book her some work without him knowing and the agent who will be named nameless untill I talk to derrick.. Not only that Sophia is on major drugs both speed and crack.. She hooks on the side so if anyone wants a cheap hooker you can book her.. Just watch out she looks like she was attacked by Jason or freddie crooger. This girl is one dum whore.. Not only that she told me that one of the agents at la direct raped her and I think she is full of shit and I feel like she is just trying to get atten.

Derek at LA Direct Models writes: "We wish Sophia well, and hope she can overcome her demons. She's a good kid and life has dealt her some tough blows."