ANNA NICOLE SMITH

Anna Nicole Smith crammed more into her 39 years than most people do in a lifetime. A high school dropout, Smith was waitressing in a fried chicken restaurant when she fell for the cook, Billy Wayne Smith. They wed in 1985, when she was 17. A year later she gave birth to their son, Daniel.
Her Hollywood story might have ended there, but Smith had bigger dreams. She split from her husband, began working as a stripper and in 1991, she saw an ad for Playboy. The following year, she appeared in the magazine and modeled for Guess.
In 1993, Smith married billionaire J. Howard Marshall. He was 89; she was 26. Smith claimed she didn’t marry him for his money, but she did admit that being Anna Nicole Smith was expensive. "It's terrible, the things I have to do to be me," she said. Within weeks of Marshall’s death in 1995, she began a legal battle with his son over the oil tycoon’s $1.6 billion estate.
While Smith’s attempts to launch an acting career floundered, she had a hit in 2002 with her reality series, The Anna Nicole Show. But her world came crashing down in September 2006 when her son, Daniel, died in the Bahamas just three days after Smith gave birth to daughter Dannielynn. She was inconsolable, and just five months after Daniel’s death, Smith passed away. The coroner blamed an accidental overdose, but David Giancola, director of her last film, Illegal Aliens, had another theory: “She died of a broken heart.”

ANNA Nicole Smith's long-estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, tried to make a fast buck off the death of her grandson, Daniel Smith. A source supplied Page Six with e-mails sent to "Entertainment Tonight" by David Leigh of Splash News on Arthur's behalf, offering the show exclusive rights to her private memorial for Daniel after his drug death in September 2006. "She'll go to the Bahamas if you want . . . She would like to visit the grave, and it would make pretty emotive pix of her doing so," he writes. Daniel, 20, died while visiting Anna Nicole at the maternity ward in Nassau after she'd given birth to his half-sister, Dannielynn. Our insider said: "[Arthur] started hustling right after her grandson died . . . She started hawking exclusive access to her own memorial in Mexia for Daniel . . . She's hunting media deals within days of her grandson's demise, while accusing [Anna Nicole's lawyer-turned-lover Howard K.] Stern of mopping up the money." Arthur's lawyer, Neil McCabe, said he was unaware of the deal and that Arthur would not comment. Anna Nicole died last year of "combined drug intoxication."
The inquest into Anna Nicole Smith's son's death continued in the Bahamas today, with yet another shocking accusation. The Associated Press reports that South Carolina developer G. Ben Thompson testified that Smith companion Howard K. Stern took photos of Daniel Smith after he died, saying the pictures "might be worth some money one day." "I was totally shocked he was taking pictures of a dead child laying in that bed," Thompson, who briefly dated Anna Nicole, told lawyers for Daniel's grandmother, Virgie Arthur.
Thompson's son also testified today, alleging that Howard got rid of two white pills found in Daniel's clothes after his collapse. Autopsy reports state that the 20-year-old died of an overdose.In response, Howard's attorney said that Thompson had forwarded the same claims in a 2007 appearance on Geraldo Rivera's TV show to get back at Howard for a dispute the two men had over Anna's Nassau mansion.The next round of testimony, including word from Larry Birkhead, will begin on March 17.
Daniel Smith, the deceased son of Anna Nicole Smith, longed to disassociate from the image of his mother and the subsequent media circus surrounding her, a family friend stated today.
The Associated Press reports that Ford Shelley, who was linked to the company that developed Anna Nicole's Bahamian home, testified at an inquest into Daniel's death today. "He loved his mother but didn't want to be known as her son," Shelley said, adding, "he wanted to break free."
While an independent autopsy conducted in January of last year concluded that a lethal drug cocktail was responsible for the 20 year-old's passing, Ford claims that Daniel was timid toward drugs and "couldn't even hold his liquor." Not the case for his mother Anna Nicole, according to Ford, who claimed that the blonde kept her prescription drugs (prescribed to four different aliases) in a duffel bag, among them methadone in both liquid and pill form, which examiners say largely contributed to Daniel's death. The inquest, made today in Nassau, Bahamas, was attended by Anna Nicole's longtime companion Howard K. Stern as well as her mother, Virgie Arthur, and continues through tomorrow with statements expected from two different nannies who cared for Dannielynn while on the Island. At its close a jury will decide the official causes of Daniel's death and advise on appropriate criminal charges if fault is determined. Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel, was killed by a combination of drugs, a pathologist revealed in the Bahamas today.Dr. Govinda Raju, who performed the autopsy on the 20-year-old, said that Daniel had methadone and the antidepressants Zoloft and Lexapro in his system — a cocktail that would have turned lethal after five hours. Daniel died in his mother's hospital room on September 10, 2006, just two days after she gave birth to his half-sister, Dannielynn.The doctor's testimony confirmed the findings of a private physician hired by Anna Nicole to investigate the cause of her son's death. Dr. Cyril Wecht has said that Daniel also had a third antidepressant in his system as well as the sleep medication Ambien and an over-the-counter cold medicine. A lawyer for Anna Nicole's attorney and companion, Howard K. Stern, who was present when Daniel died, said that the drugs Daniel was taking were all for either depression or back pain.Anna Nicole was devastated over the loss of her only son, and just five months later, she died suddenly in a Florida hotel.Investigators found that she also had a mix of medications in her system when she passed away, including methadone, anti-anxiety medication and even human growth hormone.
Testimony in Daniel's case is expected to resume tomorrow. THE fame-hungry half-sister of Anna Nicole Smith has hatched a bizarre plan to remake herself in the tragic model's image.Donna Hogan, a 40-something Texas housewife, is set to dye her hair, get her breasts surgically enhanced and then approach Hugh Hefner about becoming a Playboy centerfold - like Anna Nicole did."A few years ago, Playboy approached me and I almost agreed to do it. But I was too chicken. My boobs weren't big enough," Hogan tells Steppin' Out's Chaunce Hayden. "But now, if Playboy called, I would probably do it. I just had a birthday and I'm going to treat myself to new boobs. I just want to get my body to where I want it and I'll be ready to step in and do it . . . You'll definitely see a transformation in the next year."But Hogan won't likely make her breasts as gargantuan as Anna Nicole made hers. As she revealed in her recent tell-all, "Train Wreck," her half-sister had a "double breast enhancement" that made her so top heavy, she had to have her bras custom-made and suffered from back-pain that forced her to turn to prescription drugs.In her interview with Hayden, the nude-model wannabe also has harsh words for Anna Nicole's onetime boyfriend, lawyer Howard K. Stern, who originally claimed he was the father of baby Dannielynn, before a DNA test confirmed it was actually Larry Birkhead."He's a creepy little weasel-looking thing. He was just Anna's gofer, like a little girlfriend or something," Hogan tells the magazine. "I could just slap the [bleep] out of him. I'd love to just beat the [bleep] out of him. But instead I think I'll just torture him . . . hug and kiss on him and act like I like him, then just walk away and leave him like that, all sexually frustrated." Stern did not return Page Six's calls.Hogan, who might be overestimating her sex appeal, also doubts anybody will ever see the millions Anna Nicole supposedly inherited from late husband J. Howard Marshall, adding, "I don't even believe Anna thought she would ever see any of that money. It was just a tool she used for keeping the media interested in her."THE Kentucky Derby means a lot of things to people, but to Kid Rock, it's really special. Kid told the May issue of Maxim he had a huge fight with Anna Nicole Smith at the Derby last year. "I had my son with me, and she strolls in shooting a TV show, so I politely ask her 'Miss, we're just trying to have a good time, and you've got those [bleeping] cameras rolling,' " Kid said. "And she was like, '[Bleep] you.' So I was like '[Bleep] me? [Bleep] you. You're a [bleep]ing pig.' Then she gave my son 300 bucks. I didn't know about it until we got home 'cause he bought some Nintendo [bleep]. I'm like, 'Where did you get the money?' He's like, 'That blond girl with the big boobs gave it to me.' " Every year Rock travels to the Derby with Peyton Manning, Dennis Hopper, Travis Tritt and George Strait. "It's kind of a little clique of us that you see every year. You have to understand the levels of whiskey involved. One time I ended up in a freestyle battle against Meat Loaf." Rock and girlfriend Jessica Stamm were expected at the Stereo party in Louisville last night.THERE'S a good reason why NBC has been getting scoop after scoop in the Anna Nicole Smith soap opera and leaving the other networks in the dust - it has a secret $1 million deal with Larry Birkhead, the biological father of her 7-month-old baby, Page Six has learned.An insider tells us the network's parent, NBC Universal, sealed the deal with Birkhead shortly after Anna Nicole's funeral, and that's why it's getting exclusives that end up on the network's "Today" and "Access Hollywood" programs and on its Bravo channel.A rep for Bravo confirmed to us last night: "NBC Universal has an exclusive contract with Larry Birkhead and we don't discuss the terms of our deals."Our source says the Birkhead deal is almost up, but one more big scoop is in the works. Birkhead and little Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead are flying from the Bahamas to Los Angeles today. "They'll be on board a Bravo-funded plane along with Howard K. Stern and the network is planning some kind of big interview," our insider says."NBC-Universal made the deal with Larry right after the funeral. NBC did it through their entertainment division so there wouldn't be any uproar about it coming from news."Indeed, "Access Hollywood" just scored a copy of the baby's newly-issued birth certificate. Last month, Birkhead exclusively revealed to the show a tattoo he has of the late blond bombshell just above his jean line. "I have a tattoo on my back so I carry that around," he gushed to the show. "It's a picture of Anna so wherever I go, she goes." When Birkhead and his lawyer, Debra Opri, went their separate ways, "Access Hollywood" was the first to report it. "Today" has also had its scoops.When Birkhead was officially ruled the biological father, he went on the show first to describe his joy, gushing, "Yesterday was just a great day for me and Dannielynn." Birkhead's lawyer could not be reached.THAT Billy Crudrup, John Starks and John McEnroe will be ringside at Box NYC Thursday at Hammerstein Ballroom, where promoters are trying to combine the sweet science with poker and fine dining . . . THAT Pangaea owner Michael Ault is expanding his nightclub empire from the Seminole reservation in Hollywood. Fla., where Anna Nicole Smith liked to hang, to Austin, Texas, where he has taken a long lease on the Alamo Draft House, a big movie theater featured in the opening scene of Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof."

LARRY Birkhead (above) had a great week. Not only did DNA tests prove he's the father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn, but he partied like a rock star with a gaggle of gorgeous women. Our spy reports Birkhead was out at several clubs around Grand Bahama Island "in between court sessions" and was the center of the ladies' attention. "He was having the time of his life," our source said. "And loved the attention." Up next for Birkhead: a custody battle over the potentially rich baby girl with Dannielyn's maternal grandmother, Virgie Arthur.
Filed Under Anna Nicole Smith,ADD O.J. Simpson's name to the list of Anna Nicole Smith conquests. When the blond bombshell died last month and at least three men claimed to be the father of her baby girl, Dannielynn, the double-murder acquittee "said he was throwing his hat into the ring," Norm Pardo told Page Six. Pardo is the videographer who amassed 70 hours of footage of Simpson from 2000 to 2005. "He said he knew Anna Nicole pretty well, and he said he had slow-moving sperm, and he might be the father." Simpson and Smith were castmates in "Naked Gun 33 13: The Final Insult" (1994), and Anna Nicole was certainly O.J.'s type. His murdered wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, was also blond and busty. Simpson, who often visits the Bahamas, also joked to Pardo, "I hope they don't do a DNA test on Anna Nicole's baby. If they find out Dannielynn is mine, I don't want Fred Goldman trying to seize her money - or the baby herself." Goldman - the father of Ron Goldman, who was killed with Nicole - has been the most relentless in pursuing damages over the murders in civil court after Simpson was acquitted on criminal charges.