Emily Willis' family share agonising details in update on star's 'locked-in' state
The family of Emily Willis have shared heartbreaking details about her day to day life after a heart attack left her unable to speak or move.
Willis, 27, whose real name is Litzy Lara Banuelos, had made millions working in the adult entertainment industry, and had broken into mainstream films in the movie Divinity, which was released in 2024.
However she had been dealing with an increasingly serious addiction to alcohol and ketamine, and in early 2024 had checked into a luxury rehab facility in California, telling her brother she was 'detoxing' for three weeks.
But nine days into her stay Willis was found in cardiac arrest, before falling into a coma.
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Her brother Michael, 24, told the Daily Mail: "She said it had a lot of amenities, and a lot of celebrities went there and they make sure you come out well. She was strong going in and had a path forward. I had zero reason to think anything would go wrong."
His mum Yesenia Cooper has now moved Willis to Mexico where she is staying at a relative's home and receiving care.
Yesenia believes that Willis is aware of what is happening around her, though she cannot move or communicate beyond grunts.
She revealed that she now has plans to purchase a house in Mexico, where nursing care is more affordable than in the US, and also plans to take Willis to Spain for experimental treatment in the hope that it will help her to be able to feed herself.
"They do things there that aren't available here. Maybe she can become more independent," said Yesenia.
Willis left home when she was 17 years old and moved to Los Angeles, before starting in the adult entertainment industry in 2022, earning huge sums from appearing in films and her OnlyFans account.
"She was the most generous person ever, trying to take care of the people she loved - my mom, my dad and me," said Michael. "We never asked her for money. We just loved her for who she was."
He added: "It was me and her against the world. That was something we'd always say."
Willis had spoken to her brother sharing hopes about going to acting school, or leaving the adult industry and going to study psychology at college, things he said they had encouraged.
"We'd talk to her, try to help her, urging her to move out of Hollywood and those influences and come closer to us," he said.
However, as Willis remained in LA her addiction continued to worsen, with legal records detailing how she had been taken large quantities of ketamine.
Her family have also opened legal proceedings following her heart attack, questioning how this was allowed to happen in such a controlled environment.
"That's what is so frustrating is that this didn't happen to her at home or anything. It happened under the care of medical professionals who were acting under California law as her legal guardians," said Michael.
A court filing says that after being at the facility for five days, Willis was described in medical notes as 'anxious, distressed, barely eating, not showering or getting dressed and was experiencing aches, tremors, spasms and weakness.'
On the ninth day she was discovered unresponsive by a nurse, with paramedics reportedly working to revive her for nearly an hour before they were able to detect a pulse.
Willis was in a coma for three weeks, and suffered severe brain damage.
She would go on to be awarded a payout of $3 million.
Kit Roberts