The former adult film star is said to be making noteworthy improvements.
ByTrace William Cowen
July 30, 2026
Emily Willis’s mother, Yesenia Cooper, has shared an update on the current progress of her daughter’s recovery.
As you’ll recall, previous reports dating back to early 2024 revealed that Willis, a former adult film star, had been found unresponsive in her room at a rehab center in Malibu where she had been receiving treatment for ketamine addiction. Legal action followed, with the AVN Award winner’s family recently reaching a $3 million settlement with the facility.
Now, per a report from TMZ citing Cooper, Willis’s health is showing noteworthy improvements, though she is still unable to communicate verbally. Instead, she’s said to be communicating with head and eye movements, with her mother cited in the Thursday (July 30) report as estimating that her daughter can presently understand roughly 80 percent of what’s happening.
Willis, who’s working with therapists in Mexico at the moment, is said to be in the process of relearning to walk after enduring numerous surgeries. Additional procedures, possibly in Spain, are also said to potentially be on the horizon. For now, Willis is still not able to eat without assistance, but she has continued to show improvements more generally, including sleeping on her own and watching TV.
The path to recovery for Willis has, as expected, been a long one. Her family previously said in an update shared to GoFundMe that their daughter was fighting toward a full recovery “with every ounce of her remarkable strength and bravery.”
