Hustler magazine mogul Larry Flynt has died at the age of 78.
Family sources told TMZ the publisher passed away on Wednesday morning in Los Angeles from heart failure.
Flynt had been regarded as one of the biggest names in the adult film industry for 50 years after launching Hustler back in 1974.
His notoriety led to him being shot in 1978 in a murder attempt by serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.
Flynt was left paralysed from the waist down following the attack and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
He suffered with constant pain and other medical issues as a result of his injuries.
As well as launching Hustler, Flynt also became president of his own production company that was involved in pornographic videos and the Hustler TV channel.
He also opened the doors to the Hustler Casino in 2000.
In 1984 Flynt made an unsuccessful attempt to run for president and later the Governor of California in 2003.
He was also known for his numerous legal battles - which were dramatised in the Oscar-nominated 1996 movie The People Vs Larry Flynt, starring Woody Harrelson.
Flynt also weighed in on scandalous public debates, including during Bill Clinton's impeachment trial where he offered $1milion for evidence which he said he would publish in The Flynt Report - an investigation into the sex lives of the Republicans.
Flynt's personal life was just as dynamic.
He was married five times in total - saying 'I do' to his current wife Elizabeth Berrios in 1998.
He leaves behind five daughters and a son as well as numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
