As a role model, Ai Iijima left a lot to be desired. She made her name as an actress in Japan's insatiable pornographic movie industry, parlayed that success into a career in slightly less graphic late-night TV and, subsequently, as a talking-head talento, also finding time to write a kiss-and-tell book about her miserable experiences growing up - including being raped by her stepfather.
It is possible that Iijima's death will be her most lasting and meaningful legacy.
On Christmas Eve, a friend who had been trying to contact the 36-year-old visited her apartment in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Her body was found face down in the living room. Police initially said she had been dead at least three days.
An autopsy revealed no obvious injuries but put the death a full week before she was found. No cause of death has been announced, although several types of prescription medication were found in the apartment.
A staple for the tabloid media during her lifetime, the willowy Iijima was just as popular in the days immediately after her death. Reports speculated about whether she had died as a result of illness, suicide or a criminal event.
'Her room was messy, with books, clothes and bottles strewn around where she was found,' a police investigator was quoted as telling the weekly Shukan Post magazine. 'We found several packs of different brands of cigarettes. It seems that she was with someone up until the last minutes of her life.'