PROFILES

Anna Nicole Smith Marshall

A Miserable Sex Symbol & Bombshell Star

By The Ambassadors Staff

While growing up, Anna Smith told others that she wanted to be the next Marilyn Monroe, and modelled herself around her. Although both women came from troubled backgrounds and died young, this is less a case of comparison than imitation. Monroe, in her own time, had a different version of the trash appeal, with her jiggly body, and way of speech, open-mouthed and breathy, as if in perpetual sexual pant.  However, different from Anna Nicole Smith, Monroe never wanted to be just Marilyn Monroe: she wanted to be a poet, an intellectual, an actress. Anna Nicole Smith's life is simply a story of a miserable sex symbol and bombshell star.

Vickie Marshall  was born in Houston, Texas on November 28, 1967 and named Vickie-Lynne Hogan. She was raised in the small town about 130 kms south of Dallas. Her father left the family when Anna was a child and she was raised by her mother and aunt. But this was the first of several names she took in her 39 years. Other names include Vickie Smith, Anna Nicole Smith, Vickie-Lynne Marshall, Anna Nicole Smith Marshall. Lauded for her "party spirit", she was named Miss Republic of Cuervo Gold in 1998.

She was married at 17 to a fellow employee at a Houston Jim's Crispy Fried Chicken, named Billy Wayne Smith, and they had a son named Daniel on January 1986 and then divorced. Two years later, she moved to Houston and was a table dancer and stripper at a topless bar. She met an octogenarian oil billionaire, J. Howard Marshall in October 1991 and three years later, the 26-years-old, sex symbol married the 89-year-old billionaire on June 27, 1994.

In 1993, her popularity had exploded as she became the 50th Anniversary "Playmate of the Year" , appearing on the cover of Playboy magazine for a total of four times. She also made her film, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. Mr. Marshall died 14 months after they married in August 4, 1995. She spent much of the following decade battling his family over his estate. In May 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled that she could pursue her inheritance claims in a federal court. She sued New York Magazine in 1994, claiming that the magazine used unauthorized photograph in its August 22 issue cover to billboard an article called, "White Trash Nation." She hit cable TV in 2002, with her own reality series, The Anna Nicole Smith Show. The program lasted 2 years. In 2004, she landed a new role as spokeswoman for the diet supplement Trim Spa, and dropped much of her excess weight.

Anna Nicole with billionaire oil tycoon husband J Howard Marshall in 1994.

Paternity Battle

On September 7, 2006, Anna gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. The Bahamian birth certificate recorded the father as Howard K. Stern, which she insisted was the father.

A judge in the United States ordered that DNA tests be performed to determine who is the biological father of Dannielynn. Following Smith's death, Debra Opri, the lawyer of Larry Birkhead, asked for an emergency DNA sample to be taken from the corpse. Smith's lawyer, Ron Rale objected strongly to this request. The request was denied by a judge, instead ordering Smith's body preserved until February 20.

On April 10, 2007, a Bahamian judge ruled Larry Birkhead, a former boyfriend, as the father of Dannielynn. He cited that the DNA test results confirmed at 99.99% certainty that Birkhead is the father. Dr. Michael Baird who performed the test, also commented on its accuracy. Commenting on this revelation, Birkhead stated, "I hate to be the one to tell you this but, I told you so. I'm the father...My baby's going to be coming home pretty soon." Howard K. Stern does not plan to fight Birkhead for custody. Although Stern will not fight for custody, Anna's mother, Virgie Arthur, plans to battle in court for the right of custody. Birkhead was allowed to take the baby back to the United States, but must return to the Bahamas for a custody hearing in June.

On February 9, after her death, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, joins the paternity suit over her 5-months old daughter Dannielynn. He said, "if you go back from September, she was not with Howard Stern or Larry Birkhead." Alexander Denk, a former bodyguard for Anna Nicole Smith, reportedly told the tabloid television program Extra that he had an affair with Anna, and that it was possible he could be Dannielynn's father. Mark Hatten a.k.a. Mark "Hollywood" Hatten also came forward to claim that he is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's little girl, Dannielynn.

Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith, died on September 10, 2006 in his mother's hospital room while visiting her and his newborn sister. After the coroner labelled the death "reserved," Smith hired forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht to perform a second autopsy. Dr. Wecht announced on Larry King Live that the procedure he performed a week after Daniel's death showed that he died from a lethal combination of Zoloft, Lexapro and methadone. Although he explained that methadone is used in the treatment of heroin and morphine addiction, Wecht said he had no information to make any conclusion why Daniel was using the drug.

His death certificate was issued on September 21 so that he could be buried. While Smith remained in the Bahamas with Dannielynn and Stern. Daniel was buried at Lake View Cemetery on New Providence, Bahamas, on October 19 almost six weeks after his death.

Anna Nicole Smith with lawyer Howard K. Stern and daughter Dannielynn getting married on September 28, 2006.

Her life was not immure to tabloid stories and scandals. One of the most notorious of them was the story published in the Miami Herald in February 2007, which showed photos of Anna Nicole Smith in bed embracing Shane Gibson, Bahamian Immigration Minister, who had approved her application for permanent residency. While both were fully clothed, the bed was decorated with pink flowers and a white ribbon, a scandal that resulted in the resignation of the minister as a result of the controversy.

Cause of Anna's Death

On February 8, 2007, Anna Smith was found unresponsive at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The front desk in turn called security, while her bodyguard administered CPR before she was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital and pronounced dead at the age of 39.

Her lawyer, Ron Rale, said, "she had been ill for several days with fever and was still depressed over the death 5-months ago of her 20-years-old son of a combination of methadone and anti-depressants." If she died of natural causes, the findings will likely be announced quickly.

Authorities mentioned that the former Playboy Playmate died of an accidental overdose of sleeping medication and at least 8 other prescription drugs, and she had a bacterial infection from injecting drugs into her buttocks. Broward County medical examiner, Joshua Perper said, "she died of combined drug intoxication," with sleeping medication, chloral hydrate, as the major factors.

The autopsy report said, "a bacterial infection from injecting medication in her buttocks and a viral infection contributed to her death." The chief of the Seminole Police Department said, "we found nothing to indicate any fowl play."

Dr. Chip Walls, a forensic toxicologist at the University of Miami said, "chloral hydrate is rarely prescribed and is known to be fatal if combined with certain other drugs - including the sedative Lorazepam, which the autopsy showed she was taking. It is very toxic if mixed with any other central nervous system depressant drugs. You could get profound sedation leading up to coma and respiratory arrest."

Since her death, various legal battles have ensued, regarding the will, the paternity of her daughter, and her final resting place, resulting in a delay in her burial. Smith was finally buried March 2 at Nassau's Lakeview Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum in a plot adjacent to her son, Daniel.

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