By 2023, Emily Willis was on the edge of something extraordinary. She had won AVN Female Performer of the Year. She had starred in over 700 films. She had appeared in a Steven Soderbergh-produced science fiction film that premiered at Sundance. She was 24 years old and had just pulled off one of the most unlikely career reinventions in the history of her industry. Then, in early 2024, everything collapsed. This is the full story of who Emily Willis was — and what happened to her.
Who Is Emily Willis? The Real Name and the Early Life
Her real name is Litzy Lara Banuelos. She was born on December 29, 1998, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her early life was shaped by upheaval — her parents separated when she was young, and her mother later married an American citizen. By the time she was seven years old, the family had relocated to St. George, Utah — a small, deeply conservative town that could not have been more different from the city she was born in.
She grew up bilingual, trained in ballet for 15 years, loved mathematics, and devoured books — her reported favorite being The Great Gatsby. She graduated from high school a year early and moved to San Diego, California, where she worked as a door-to-door salesperson. None of that background fits the story most people tell about her. But it's who she actually was.
How Emily Willis Entered the Industry — and the Dark Origin
In 2017, Emily met a man named Andre Garcia — known as "Dre" — on Tinder. He was an actor and recruiter affiliated with GirlsDoPorn, a production company that was later shut down following an FBI investigation into sex trafficking. The investigation found the company had run fake modeling ads, pressured women into performing, and promised payments between $2,000 and $6,000 that were never made.
Emily herself later told XBIZ: "I knew from the start that I was being lied to about the scenes" — but added that it ultimately didn't matter to her because she had already decided she wanted to pursue adult film work regardless. It's a complicated origin story that she never tried to simplify. She owned it, moved on from it, and built something much larger.
The Rise — 700 Films, Penthouse Pet, and the AVN Peak
After her first scenes in 2017, Emily Willis moved to Las Vegas in early 2018 and then relocated to Los Angeles — the center of the industry she was rapidly climbing. The ascent was steep and fast.
She worked with virtually every major studio — building a filmography that would eventually surpass 700 credited performances, a number that places her among the most prolific performers of her generation. In May 2019, she was named Penthouse Pet of the Month — a mainstream crossover recognition that signals genuine cultural reach beyond the adult industry alone.
Then came 2021 — the year that defined her professional legacy. She won AVN Female Performer of the Year, the highest individual honor in adult entertainment — the industry's equivalent of a Best Actress Oscar. She was 22 years old. She also took home multiple additional AVN Awards that year, cementing a career peak that most performers spend decades trying to reach.
The Reinvention — Divinity, Steven Soderbergh, and Sundance
By 2023, Emily Willis had decided she wanted something different. She had been publicly discussing her desire to transition into mainstream film — and then the opportunity arrived in a form nobody expected.
She was cast in Divinity — a science fiction dystopian thriller directed by Eddie Alcazar and produced by Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh. She played "Lynx," a mysterious character connected to an ancient mind-expanding device. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and entered theatrical release in the United States on November 3, 2023.
For a brief, extraordinary moment, Emily Willis wasn't being discussed as an adult film performer. She was being discussed as an actress — on the same stage where careers like Quentin Tarantino's and Steven Spielberg's had been legitimized decades earlier. Critics and audiences took notice. The risk had paid off. A complete reinvention seemed entirely within reach.
Nobody — including her — knew what was already happening underneath the surface.
What Nobody Knew — The Addiction Nobody Could See
While Divinity was screening in theaters, Emily Willis was in the grip of a serious ketamine addiction that had been escalating for nearly a year. Court documents later revealed she had been consuming approximately six grams of ketamine daily — a quantity that had caused severe physical damage including chronic bladder inflammation, uncontrollable incontinence, and debilitating night terrors.
When she arrived at Summit Malibu — an upscale rehabilitation center in California — she weighed just 80 pounds. Clean urine tests confirmed she had no ketamine in her system upon arrival. Her family and those around her believed she was finally getting the help she needed. She had made the choice herself. She had asked for help.
What Happened at Summit Malibu — The 2024 Medical Crisis
In February 2024, Emily Willis suffered a cardiac arrest while under the care of Summit Malibu. The prolonged loss of oxygen to her brain caused severe anoxic brain damage. In the immediate aftermath, doctors described her condition as consistent with locked-in syndrome — a rare neurological state in which a patient is fully conscious but unable to move or communicate due to near-complete paralysis of voluntary muscles.
Her family's account of what happened at the facility is the basis of ongoing litigation. According to the lawsuit filed by her family and their attorney James Morris against Summit Malibu and its parent company Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers, Willis' condition deteriorated over several days, and staff did not call 911 or transfer her to a hospital despite apparent signs of acute medical distress. "She is permanently physically disabled," Morris stated in February 2025.
In April 2024, her family announced that Emily had woken from a coma of more than two months and was beginning to show emotional responses — a moment of relief for the hundreds of thousands of people who had been following her situation online. The road ahead, her family noted, would be very long.
The Legal Battle — Suing Summit Malibu
In January 2025, Emily's family filed a formal lawsuit against Summit Malibu for negligence and malpractice. The legal documents describe the cardiac arrest and resulting oxygen deprivation as having caused irreversible and debilitating brain damage — and characterize Emily as "permanently disabled" as a result of what happened while she was in the facility's care.
The lawsuit remains ongoing as of 2025. It has drawn significant attention to the standards of care at private rehabilitation facilities, the legal protections available to patients in crisis, and the question of what happens when those protections fail.
Separately, a $5 million defamation lawsuit she had filed in October 2021 against fellow performers Gianna Dior and Adria Rae over alleged false Twitter posts was dismissed without prejudice in 2025 — because no one was able to appear in court on Emily's behalf due to her incapacitation.
The Fan Response — GoFundMe, Support, and Keeping Her Story Alive
The response from Emily Willis' fanbase and the broader public has been one of the more remarkable aspects of this story. A GoFundMe campaign launched in 2024 has raised over $100,000 to help cover medical expenses and rehabilitation costs — funded by people across the world who had never met her but felt connected to her story.
Her brother Michael has been the family's public voice throughout, posting updates, managing her social media presence, and pursuing legal accountability on her behalf. The family has emphasized how important the public support has been in maintaining a positive environment for Emily's recovery.
Where Is Emily Willis Now in 2025?
As of 2025, Emily Willis — Litzy Lara Banuelos — is under full-time care at her family home in Utah, receiving ongoing therapy and medical support. Her recovery is described as slow but showing gradual, meaningful progress. She has demonstrated signs of responsiveness and emotional awareness. Medical experts have consistently noted that recovery from anoxic brain injury is unpredictable and long-term.
Her public Instagram account remains visible but has been dormant since her hospitalization. Her EmFatale fashion brand — a line she launched as part of her entrepreneurial push beyond adult film — has similarly gone quiet. Her story, however, has not.
Frequently Asked Questions About Emily Willis
What is Emily Willis' real name?
Her real name is Litzy Lara Banuelos. She was born on December 29, 1998, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to St. George, Utah at age seven.
What happened to Emily Willis in 2024?
She suffered a cardiac arrest while receiving treatment for ketamine addiction at Summit Malibu rehabilitation center in California. The resulting oxygen deprivation caused severe anoxic brain damage. Her family has filed a lawsuit alleging negligence against the facility.
Is Emily Willis still alive?
Yes. As of 2025, Emily Willis is alive and under full-time care with her family in Utah. She woke from a coma in April 2024 and continues to show gradual signs of progress in recovery.
What movies did Emily Willis appear in?
She appeared in over 700 adult films across her career. Her most significant mainstream film credit is Divinity (2023), a Steven Soderbergh-produced science fiction film that premiered at Sundance, in which she played a character named "Lynx."
Did Emily Willis win any awards?
Yes. She won AVN Female Performer of the Year in 2021 — the highest individual honor in adult entertainment — along with multiple additional AVN Awards that year. She was also named Penthouse Pet of the Month in May 2019.
What is the lawsuit against Summit Malibu?
Emily's family filed a lawsuit in January 2025 against Summit Malibu and its parent company, alleging that staff failed to call emergency services or transfer her to a hospital despite visible signs of medical deterioration — directly leading to the cardiac arrest and permanent brain damage she sustained.
What was Emily Willis' fashion brand?
She launched a fashion brand called EmFatale as part of her push to build an identity and business beyond adult entertainment. The brand has been inactive since her hospitalization in 2024.
The Legacy — What Emily Willis' Story Actually Means
Emily Willis' story is not a cautionary tale. It is more complicated and more human than that framing allows. It is the story of a girl from Argentina who grew up in small-town Utah, trained in ballet, loved books, graduated early, made a radical career choice at 19, became one of the most decorated performers in her industry, appeared at Sundance at 24, asked for help when she needed it, and was let down catastrophically by the institution she trusted to provide it.
She did everything right in the moments that mattered most. She recognized she needed help. She checked herself in. She was clean. What happened next was not her failure.
Her story has sparked important conversations about rehabilitation facility standards, patient safety, and what accountability looks like when someone in crisis is failed by the systems that were supposed to protect them. Those conversations matter — and they are happening, in part, because of her name.
The girl who started as Litzy Lara Banuelos in Buenos Aires left a mark on the world that goes well beyond any screen she appeared on. Her family is fighting for her. Her fans are still there. And her story is far from finished.