Althea Flynt née Leasure, was the fourth wife of Larry Flynt

Larry Flynt

Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications . In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as the number one on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list....

 and the co-publisher of Flynt's adult pornography magazine, Hustler

Hustler

Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine aimed at men and published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to...

.

Leasure was born November 6, 1953 in Marietta

Marietta, Ohio

Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, USA. Althea and her three sisters, Sherry, Debbie, and Marsha, and one brother, Richard, came from an abusive home. When Althea was eight, her father Richard shot her mother June and grandfather dead, then fatally shot himself. Althea's grandmother was present during the incident, but survived by hiding in the nearby creek. Althea was put into an orphanage, where she remained until she ran away as a teenager.

Althea was bisexual. She met Larry at age 17 in 1971, when she applied for a job as a stripper at his club in Columbus, Ohio. They were married on August 21, 1976. Althea was Hustler's first life-size centerfold, and she was involved with the management and publication of the magazine throughout her 11-year marriage; she continued to run the magazine and kept it afloat during Larry's brief return to religion in 1977 and his campaign for President of the United States in 1984

United States presidential election, 1984

The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...

.

In the mid-1980s, Althea planned a new non-pornographic magazine called The Rage, to focus on the punk subculture

Punk subculture

The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...

. The Rage was ultimately abandoned due to the expense of Flynt's 1984 Presidential run.

Althea began using the drugs that Larry was prescribed for pain after he was shot in 1978, and developed an addiction

Substance dependence

The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...

. She was diagnosed with AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 in 1983; Flynt claims that she contracted the disease from a blood transfusion

Blood transfusion

Blood transfusion is the process of receiving blood products into one's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood...

 during a hysterectomy

Hysterectomy

A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, usually performed by a gynecologist. Hysterectomy may be total or partial...

, and that she always used clean needles when using drugs.

Althea died aged 33 when she drowned at the couple's Bel-Air mansion in Los Angeles, California on June 27, 1987. According to reports, she passed out from an overdose and drowned in the bathtub. Flynt, however, states that at the time she was in the advanced stages of AIDS and would have died within that year, regardless. (By that point Flynt was taking care of her and he claims that she was practically bedridden.) Althea Flynt is buried in the Flynt family cemetery plot, located on Lakeville in Salyersville, Kentucky.

In the 1996 movie The People vs. Larry Flynt

The People vs. Larry Flynt

The People vs. Larry Flynt is a 1996 American biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman about the rise of pornographic magazine publisher and editor Larry Flynt, and his subsequent clash with the law. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton.The film was written by...

she was portrayed by Courtney Love

Courtney Love

Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...

, who was nominated for a Golden Globe.

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