Anti-smoking icon dies at 62: Woman made famous in ad that showed her puffing through hole in her neck dies of throat cancer after 20-year battle

Debi Austin, the star of the most famous anti-tobacco commercial ever, passed away Friday after decades of battling the chronic health issues left to her by a three-pack-a-day smoking habit.

America first met Austin as she picked up a lit cigarette and took a long drag through the hole in her throat.
In the commercial, she said she started smoking when she was 13 and they told her nicotine wasn't addictive.

'How can they say that?' she asked as smoked curled up around her face. 

The mid-90s ad turned her into a hero for the anti-tobacco movement.
 
She died Friday at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys at the age of 62 following a 20-year battle with cancer.

Bad habit: Austin smoked for decades, continuing to smoke through the hole in her throat even after being diagnosed with cancer

Austin's ad is 'the most-recognized and talked about California tobacco control ad,' according to a statement from the State Department of Health, released after her death.
 
'Debi was a pioneer in the fight against tobacco and showed tremendous courage by sharing her story to educate Californians on the dangers of smoking,' Dr. Ron Chapman said in the statement.
  
Austin then traveled around the state to tell young people about the dangers of tobacco, and made two more anti-smoking ads that aired in 2011.




SOURCE: Dailymail