The death of a centerfold

After the death of her billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall, Anna Nicole Smith should have been living her dream in vivid Technicolor—the one about being Marilyn Monroe, blonde, beloved and seriously bejeweled.

But the glide down easy street quickly hit a pothole.  Her late husband’s family said the gold digger should get nothing.  It kicked her and her son out of the family mansion.  She was broke and humiliated. 

J.D. Heyman, People magazine: I think it was a personal slight to her that she felt that they were kicking her to the curb—sort of the opportunistic—you know, country girl who came and took this old man for a ride.

But People magazine’s J.D. Heyman says the treatment stoked a fire beneath that so-called dumb blonde exterior. Anna Nicole took the family to court, claimed her husband had promised her money.  Her lifestyle, she said, demanded a certain budget.  

Since Anna Nicole wasn’t mentioned in her late husband’s will, the court sent her home without a dime.

But she kept fighting: winning and losing court battles.  Gaining and losing pounds too.  At times she seemed to delight in throwing her weight around for a hungry paparazzi and public.

That and her insatiable hunger for the spotlight timed perfectly with a rising pop culture phenomenon – reality TV.

It seemed-tailor made for the one-time stripper.  “The Anna Nicole Smith” show debuted in 2002 on E! Entertainment Television. With her negligees and ditsy personality, she gave new meaning to the term “boob tube.”

She was working with her lawyer Howard K. Stern and trying to mother her devoted teenage son Daniel. 

Paula Froelich, New York Post columnist:  She did everything for her son and she needed to go to work because her son needed her. And I think having Daniel there kind of kept her straight and narrow, in the straight and narrowest way she could be.

Viewers took to the show like bystanders at a car crash.  The show was a hit.  But with the ratings came ridicule.  Her bizarre behavior and weight became fodder for tabloids.

Suddenly, the girl who seemed so comfortable in her own skin was cringing.  She started shedding pounds and raving about a diet pill called Trim Spa.

In 2003, she became its spokesperson, reportedly losing more than 60 lbs.  Along the way she also seemed to be losing a little self-control.

At the 2004 American Music Awards she offered the memorable line, “like my body?”

People wondered were drugs and alcohol taking over? 

And then in 2005 a stunning announcement: the Supreme Court would weigh in on the case of Anna Nicole’s lost millions from her late billionaire husband.

NBC Legal Analyst Susan Filan: What did that prove? I think it proved you can’t laugh at her anymore you’ve got to take her seriously.

Better yet the justices agreed with her: Anna Nicole’s case, they said, deserved a new hearing. And for fans of her Web site, there was another happy announcement.

Anna (on video on her site): Let me stop all the rumors. Yes, I am pregnant.

The father, she later said, was her former lawyer and reality show co-star Howard K. Stern. She gave birth in September of last year in a hospital in the Bahamas to Dannielynn, a baby girl that friends said she had always wanted.   And there at her side was her 20-year-old son Daniel. 

It was rare moment of joy... and fleeting, too. 

The news sounded incredible when Daniel had died in the hospital room where she had just welcomed a daughter into the world. Suddenly Anna was no longer a favorite kooky celebrity—she was a real mother inexplicably torn between loss and life.  It seemed to drain that fiery spirit.

Natalie Morales, NBC News: At what point did her fight end? When did she stop fighting?

J.D. Heyman: It’s clear that when Daniel died, the fight went out of her.

A pathologist hired by the family said Daniel had died from a lethal drug combination. There was instant public sympathy for the grieving mother and—a few weeks later—utter confusion, when some photos came to light.

Snapshots of Anna Nicole and her new prince charming, in a pseduo-wedding ceremony, jumping into the sea.   But it may have been a last splash for the paparrazzi. After that, she was seen less often in public.  One reason may have been a paternity fight.

An old boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, had surfaced claiming he— not Stern— was the biological father of her new baby.  He was demanding a paternity test. She seemed to be in hiding.

Then, earlier this month, the other glass slipper dropped:  word that she and Trim Spa were being sued  for misleading claims about those diet pills.  The company told NBC the allegations were ridiculous.

Froelich: She lived with law suits for, I don’t know, seven or eight years already. And then here’s another one. I think she just kind of felt it was never-ending. And that every phone call she got was another law suit. 

Looking back, it’s hard not to see the danger sign, up ahead, screaming in neon. 

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