Death of a showgirl: in the '90s, Jahna Steele was one of Vegas's most celebrated topless performers. Did being outed as transgender contribute to her demise?

Like many beautiful women, Jahna Steele struggled with getting older. In her early 30s the platinum-blond singer and dancer was a Vegas sensation, headlining "Crazy Girls," the city's fiber-straight topless revue, before being outed as transgender by the tabloid show A Current Affair. After that, Steele toured nightclubs and appeared regularly on national talk shows like Montel. But at 49, she was dead.

Steele passed away January 24 from as yet undetermined causes, according to the Clark County, Nev., coroner. Her former best friend, "La Cage" star Frank Marino [see page 42], says, "I heard it was prescription medication. It's really Anna Nicole, Marilyn Monroe relived."

After having sex-reassignment surgery in her early 20s, Steele fled her hometown of San Antonio for Vegas. She gained a reputation on the Sin City nightclub scene as a talented performer who also completely "passed."

"My producer not only had 'La Cage' but 'Crazy Girls,' and he was looking for a singer," Marino says. "I recommended Jahna."

"'If she's as good as you say,' "Marino recalls his producer telling him during auditions," 'that I can't tell which one is your friend--I'll hire her.' For many years Jahna was the star of 'Crazy Girls,' and the rest is history."

Marino says most people in Vegas, including Steele's costars, knew she was transgender but didn't care. In 1992, A Current Affair got wind of the story and ran with it; Steele was soon let go because of the subsequent publicity. The showgirl rolled with the punches, working steadily in the '90s at revues and clubs. But when work started drying up, Steele, by her own admission, began self-medicating.

"I saw her go from a housewife who would entertain periodically to a headliner on the Strip," says Marino, who lost touch with Steele when she fell in with a hard-partying crowd. "Then I saw that taken away, and [saw] her meeting people who promised her the world and then gave her nothing."

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Marino doesn't believe her death was intentional. "She was still beautiful," he says. "But the people who now look like her are 21, and that's who the men give attention to." He pauses. "I don't think she was done with life; I think she was done with the pain of life."