Vickie Lynn Marshall (néeHogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally asAnna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress and television personality.[1] Smith started her career as aPlayboy magazinecenterfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993Playmate of the Year. She later modeled for fashion companies, includingGuess,H&M,Lane Bryant andHeatherette.
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, inHouston, Texas, the only daughter of Virgie Tabers Arthur (1951–2018) and Donald Eugene Hogan (1947–2009).[2] Smith attendedMexia High School, inMexia, Texas, transferring there from a Houston school.[3][4] She had five half-siblings on her father's side. Smith was primarily raised by her mother and her family in Mexia.[2]
Smith secured a contract to replace supermodelClaudia Schiffer in aGuess Jeans advertisement campaign featuring a series of sultry black-and-white photographs. During the Guess campaign, she took on thestage name "Anna Nicole". Guess photographers noticed Smith bore a striking resemblance toJayne Mansfield and showcased her in several Mansfield-inspired photo sessions. In 1993, she modeled for the Swedish clothing companyH&M, which led to her picture being displayed on large billboards in Sweden and Norway.[6] Smith was featured on the cover ofMarie Claire, shot byPeter Lindbergh in October 1993, and inGQ magazine.[7] In 2004 she modelled forHeatherette.[8]
In October 2003, she became a spokeswoman forTrimSpa, which allegedly helped her lose a reported 69 pounds (31 kg). TrimSpa diet product company and Smith were sued in aclass-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight loss pill was false or misleading. TrimSpa filed for bankruptcy after Smith's death and was liquidated.[9]In March 2005, at the firstMTV Australia Video Music Awards in Sydney'sLuna Park, Smith spoofedJanet Jackson'swardrobe malfunction by pulling down her dress to reveal both breasts, each covered with the MTV logo.[10]
While working at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken inMexia, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith, a cook at the restaurant, and the couple married on April 4, 1985, when he was 16 and she was 17.[11] She gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne Smith, on January 22, 1986. Smith and her husband separated the following year and divorced in 1993.[12]
While performing at a Houston strip club in October 1991, Smith met 86-year-oldpetroleum tycoonJ. Howard Marshall.[13] On June 27, 1994, Smith and Marshall were married inHouston,[14] resulting in speculation thatshe married him for his money. Marshall died on August 4, 1995, in Houston, at the age of 90.[15]
In October 1994, Smith initiated a $5 million lawsuit against theNew York magazine, claiming that she did not authorize the use of her photo on the cover of its magazine titled "White Trash Nation" and that the article damaged her reputation. The lawsuit was settled.[16]
Even though Smith was not in Marshall'swill, she claimed that in return for marriage, Marshall verbally promised her half of hisestate, which primarily consisted of a 16% interest inKoch, Inc., then worth $1.6 billion. Smith's stepsonE. Pierce Marshall disputed the claim. Smith temporarily joined forces with J. Howard's other son,J. Howard Marshall III, who was disowned after attempting to take control of Koch. Howard III also claimed that his father had verbally promised him a portion of the estate; like Smith, Howard III was also left out of his father's will.[17]
In 1996, Smith filed forbankruptcy inCalifornia as a result of an $850,000default judgment against her for thesexual harassment of a nanny who cared for her son.[18] Since any money potentially due to her from the Marshall estate was part of her potential assets, the bankruptcy court involved itself in the matter.[18]
In September 2000, aLos Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134.00, the amount that Marshall's interest in Koch appreciated during their marriage.[19] However, in July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood affirmed the jury's findings in the probate case by ruling that Smith was entitled to nothing. The judge ordered Smith to pay over $1 million to cover the legal costs and expenses of E. Pierce Marshall. The conflict between the Texas probate court and California bankruptcy court judgments forced the matter intofederal court.[20]
In March 2002, a federal judge vacated the California bankruptcy court's ruling and issued a new ruling that reduced the award to $88 million. On December 30, 2004, a three-judge panel of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision on the grounds that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction to overrule the probate court's decision.[21][22]
In September 2005, theU.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of that decision. TheGeorge W. Bush administration directedPaul Clement, theUnited States Solicitor General, to intercede on Smith's behalf in the interest of expanding federal court jurisdiction over stateprobate disputes.[23] On May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of Smith. JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion. The decision did not give Smith a portion of her husband's estate, but affirmed her right to pursue a share of it in federal court.[24][25][26]
On June 20, 2006, E. Pierce Marshall died at age 67 from aninfection.[27] His widow and estate executorElaine Tettemer Marshall, pursued the case on behalf of his estate. After Smith's death in 2007, the case continued on behalf of Smith's infant daughter,Dannielynn Birkhead.[28] In March 2010, an appeals court upheld the verdict barring Smith from the estate.[29] Following the decision, lawyers for Smith's estate appealed the decision to the entire Ninth Circuit. On May 6, 2010, the appeal was denied.[30]
In June 2011, in the case ofStern v. Marshall, the Supreme Court issued a ruling against Smith's estate, stating that the California bankruptcy court decision that gave her estate $475 million was made withoutsubject-matter jurisdiction. The court agreed with the ruling of the Ninth Circuit that a bankruptcy court could not make a decision on an issue outside bankruptcy law.[31] In August 2014,David O. Carter, a federal U.S. District Court judge inOrange County, California, rejected efforts to obtain about $44 million from the J. Howard Marshall estate.[32]
On June 1, 2006, Smith announced her pregnancy in a video clip on her official website.[35] She gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn, on September 7, 2006, inNew Providence, The Bahamas.[36] In an interview onCNN'sLarry King Live after the death of Smith's son, attorneyHoward K. Stern said that he and Smith had been in a relationship for "a very long time" and said he was the father.[37] Entertainment photographer Larry Birkhead claimed that he was the baby's father and filed a lawsuit to establish paternity.[38] The Bahamianbirth certificate recorded the father as Stern.[39]
A judge in the United States ordered thatDNA paternity tests be performed to determine Dannielynn's biological father. Following Smith's death, Birkhead's attorney asked for an emergency DNA sample to be taken from Smith's body.[40] The request was denied by a judge who ordered that her body be preserved until February 20.[41]
On February 9, 2007,Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband,Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, stated that he had had a decade-long affair with Smith and could potentially be the father of her daughter.[42] Smith's former bodyguard and chef, Alexander Denk, also claimed that he had an affair with Smith and that he, too, was potentially the father.[43]
After Smith's death, theTMZ website reported that she had been given a prescription formethadone under a false name while she was in her eighth month of pregnancy.[44] TheMedical Board of California launched a review into the matter. The prescribing doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, said the treatment he had administered was "sound and appropriate".[45]
In April 2007, a Bahamian judge ruled that DNA tests had established Birkhead as the biological father.[46] Birkhead subsequently applied for an amended birth certificate listing him as Dannielynn's father, paving the way for him to obtain apassport for the baby to leave with him for the United States. Stern did not contest the DNA results or the ruling,[47] and Birkhead returned to the United States with the baby.[48] Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, appealed the ruling, but her appeal was denied and she was ordered to pay costs.[49]
On September 10, 2006, Smith's twenty-year-old son Daniel Wayne Smith died in his mother's hospital room while visiting her and his half-sister Dannielynn, who was born three days earlier on September 7. An autopsy found that Daniel had died from a combination of drugs, includingmethadone and antidepressants. A Bahamian jury determined that he had died from an accidental drug overdose and recommended no criminal charges.[50][51][52]Adeath certificate was issued on September 21, 2006.[53] Daniel was buried at Lake View Cemetery inNew Providence on October 19, 2006.[54]
According to Stern, Smith was devastated by her son's death. "Anna and Daniel were inseparable. Daniel was without question the most important person in Anna's life," Stern said during his testimony at the trial regarding the right to control disposition of Smith's remains. "At Daniel's funeral, she had them open the coffin and tried to climb inside. She said that 'if Daniel has to be buried, I want to be buried with him.' She was ready to go down with him."[55] Stern said that, "Anna saw herself as both mother and father to Daniel. From the time I met her, everything was for Daniel. I would say that physically, she died last week, but in a lot of ways, emotionally she died when Daniel died."[56][57]
On September 28, 2006, Smith and Stern exchanged vows and rings in an informal commitment ceremony in the Bahamas. Although they pledged their love and made a commitment to be there for each other before aBaptist minister, no marriage certificate was issued and the ceremony did not create a legal marriage.[58] Regarding the questionable timing of the ceremony, Smith's attorney in Nassau said, "They needed a little adrenaline boost because things have been so hectic and devastating in their life recently."[59] Ceremony photos were sold throughGetty Images toPeople magazine for $1 million.[60]
Smith and Stern were reportedly staying inthe Bahamas to avoidpaternity testing of her daughter in the United States.[61] In late 2006, Smith was granted permanent resident status in the Bahamas by Immigration MinisterShane Gibson. A local newspaper published photographs showing Smith lying clothed in bed in an embrace with Gibson.[62] Gibson resigned after the wave of controversy over his relationship with Smith.[63][64]
The basis of Smith's permanent residency status was the claim that she owned a $900,000 mansion, which she said was given to her by a former boyfriend, real estate developerGaither Ben Thompson ofSouth Carolina. Thompson asserted that he loaned Smith the finances to purchase the property, which she failed to repay, and that he was attempting to regain control of it.[65] Thompson sued to evict Smith from the property in the Bahamas Court and received adefault judgment against her.[66] It was claimed that methadone was found in Smith's bedroom refrigerator while the mansion was being reclaimed.[67] A photograph provided toTMZ of Smith's refrigerator showed a large bottle labelled methadone, vials of injectable vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin), and numerous bottles of diet productSlimFast.[68]
An investigation was led by Broward County Medical Examiner and forensic pathologistJoshua Perper in conjunction with Seminole police and several independent forensic pathologists and toxicologists. Perper announced that Smith died of "combined drug intoxication" with the sleeping medicationchloral hydrate as the "major component".[70] No illegal drugs were found in her system. According to the official report, her death was not due to homicide, suicide or natural causes.[71]
Smith's death was ultimately ruled an accidental drug overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate that became increasingly toxic when combined with other prescription drugs in her system, specifically fourbenzodiazepines. Furthermore, she had takendiphenhydramine andtopiramate. Despite rumors ofmethadone use involved in the death of Smith's son, Perper only found methadone in herbile, indicating it was probably ingested 2–3 days prior to her death, and therefore was not a contributing factor.[72] The autopsy report indicates that abscesses on her buttocks, presumably from prior injections ofvitamin B12 in the form ofcyanocobalamin, as well ashuman growth hormone, and viralenteritis were contributory causes of death. Tests for influenza A and B were negative.
Smith's grave inthe Bahamas, with her son Daniel and husband Marshall
Eight of the eleven drugs in Smith's system, including the chloral hydrate, were prescribed to Stern, not Smith. Additionally, two of the prescriptions were written for "Alex Katz" and one was written for Smith's friend and psychiatrist Dr.Khristine Eroshevich. Perper acknowledged that all of the prescriptions were written by Dr.Eroshevich.[73][74]Smith's funeral took place on March2, 2007, in the Bahamas.[75]
Smith's will was prepared by attorney Eric Lund in 2001, in Los Angeles, California. Smith named her son Daniel as the sole beneficiary of her estate, specifically excluded other children and named Stern executor of the estate.[76] It indicated personal property valued at $10,000 and real estate valued at $1.8 million, with a $1.1 million mortgage, at the time of her death. A petition to probate Smith's will was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, listing Birkhead as a party with interest to the estate.[77]
In 2008,John O'Quinn, lawyer for Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, filed the underlying proceedings againstEntertainment Tonight,TMZ,CBS, journalist Art Harris, and several Texas bloggers, alleging that the defendants conspired to ruin her reputation through defamatory e-mails, blogs and website postings and harmed her efforts to seek custody and visitation of her granddaughter.[78][79] The court jailed one blogger because she failed to turn over her computer as evidence.[80][81] Arthur's defamation lawsuit was dismissed after TMZ, CBS,Entertainment Tonight, Harris, and others wonsummary judgment.[citation needed]
In 2017, Smith's primary care physician Sandeep Kapoor published a memoir titledTrust Me, I'm a Doctor: My Life Before, During and After Anna Nicole Smith. In February 2024, it was reported thatKal Penn would star as Kapoor in an upcoming film based on the book, titledTrust Me, I'm a Doctor.[93]
^abKantor, Wendy G.; Breuer, Howard (February 8, 2007)."Anna Nicole Smith Dead".People.Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. RetrievedDecember 12, 2020.
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