Anna Nicole Smith, born Vickie Lynn Hogan, was a model, actress, and television personality. Her career began with Playboy magazine, where she was a centerfold in May 1992 and Playmate of the Year in 1993. Smith's life was marked by fame, controversy, and personal struggles, including battles with weight, legal disputes, and ultimately, a tragic death.
Early Life and Career
Born in Houston, Texas, on November 28, 1967, Anna Nicole Smith's early life was relatively ordinary. She dropped out of high school in 1984 and married Billy Wayne Smith in 1985, when she was 17. While working at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, 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. She gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne Smith, on January 22, 1986.
Smith secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in a Guess Jeans advertisement campaign featuring a series of sultry black-and-white photographs. During the Guess campaign, she took on the stage name "Anna Nicole." Guess photographers noticed Smith bore a striking resemblance to Jayne Mansfield and showcased her in several Mansfield-inspired photo sessions.
High-Profile Marriage and Legal Battles
In October 1991, while performing at a Houston strip club, Smith met 86-year-old petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall. On June 27, 1994, Smith and Marshall were married in Houston, resulting in speculation that she married him for his money. Following Marshall's death in 1995, Smith began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate. Her cases reached the Supreme Court of the United States: Marshall v. Marshall on a question of federal jurisdiction and Stern v. Marshall on a question of bankruptcy court authority.
Smith temporarily joined forces with J. Howard's other son, J. Howard Marshall III, who was disowned after attempting to take control of Koch. In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134.00, the amount that Marshall's interest in Koch appreciated during their marriage. 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.
Read also: Balanced Lifestyle: Anna Kendrick's Approach
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. Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of that decision. The George W. Bush administration directed Paul Clement, the United States Solicitor General, to intercede on Smith's behalf in the interest of expanding federal court jurisdiction over state probate disputes. On May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of Smith. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion. On June 20, 2006, E. Pierce Marshall died at age 67 from an infection. After Smith's death in 2007, the case continued on behalf of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead. In June 2011, in the case of Stern 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 without subject-matter jurisdiction.
Weight Loss Journey and TrimSpa
Smith's weight fluctuated throughout her career, and she became a spokeswoman for TrimSpa in October 2003. She claimed the product helped her lose a reported 69 pounds (31 kg). TrimSpa diet product company and Smith were sued in a class-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight loss pill was false or misleading. At her funeral three years later, mourners would be asked to wear pink. The night before Anna clasped that necklace and stumbled onstage, she suffered two seizures. Seizures-in addition to stroke and heart damage-are known side effects of ephedra, one of the ingredients in TrimSpa diet pills.
Have you heard the naked facts? a TrimSpa ad wants to know. It also wants to announce Anna’s total weight loss: 69 pounds. Had it happened, the contest’s prize would have been the opportunity to party like Anna at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel, the place where, instead, Anna was found naked and couldn’t be revived, her body riddled with abscesses linked to weight-loss injections.
The radio announcer Howard Stern first told Anna about TrimSpa, during a 2002 episode of his show in which he spent 10 minutes attempting to get her to step on a scale because he’d made a bet about how much she weighed. A lawyer with the same name, Howard K. Stern, was meant to become Anna’s husband in the Bahamas just weeks after she died; he was subsequently sued for giving her pills she was not prescribed.
Personal Struggles and Tragedy
Smith's personal life was marked by tragedy. 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, including methadone and antidepressants. 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."
Read also: Body Positivity and Anna Faris
In late 2006, Smith was granted permanent resident status in the Bahamas by Immigration Minister Shane Gibson. 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 developer Gaither Ben Thompson of South Carolina.
Death and Legacy
On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Perper announced that Smith died of "combined drug intoxication" with the sleeping medication chloral hydrate as the "major component". No illegal drugs were found in her system. 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 four benzodiazepines. Furthermore, she had taken diphenhydramine and topiramate.
The autopsy report indicates that abscesses on her buttocks, presumably from prior injections of vitamin B12 in the form of cyanocobalamin, as well as human growth hormone, and viral enteritis were contributory causes of death. 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. Smith's will was prepared by attorney Eric Lund in 2001, in Los Angeles, California. 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.
Anna Nicole Smith's life, though short, left a lasting impact on popular culture. She was a symbol of beauty, fame, and the struggles that can come with both. Mocked, maligned, misunderstood, stolen from, and sued, Anna might have been in the mood for something to free her mind from her body that night at the Billboard Awards.
Read also: A Healthier Anna Campisi