Anna Nicole Smith

American model known for her one-year marriage to the oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who died in 1995 at age 90. She had met the aged millionaire in 1991 at a club where she was working as a stripper. In January 2001, a Los Angeles judge determined that she was entitled to $475 million - half of her late husband's estate. But in March, a Houston Jury found in favor of Marshall's son Pierce, the other benefactor of the estate. Now Smith has been ordered to pay $541,000 in court costs. Pierce testified that his father had spent excessive amounts on gifts to Anna Nicole, including $1 million worth of expensive jewelry. A former playboy bunny with a sweet little-girl face and an impressive bosom, Anna had an earlier ex-husband, a cook at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken Shack. On 3/07/2002, a Federal court judge awarded Smith more than $88 million in damages in the latest ruling in a bitter legal fight over the Marshall estate, declaring that Marshall's son had interfered with Smith's rights "with willful maliciousness and fraud." In June 2004, she broke two ribs after falling from a Jet Ski while filming for her reality series, "The Anna Nicole Show." On December 30, 2004, a federal appeals court denied her claim to $88.5 million from her late husband's estate. The judges found that E. Pierce Marshall is the sole heir of her late husband.She took her case to the Supreme Court and in May 2006 won a judgment that she deserved another chance to have her case re-heard in lower court. Her 67-year old stepson then died in mid-June 2006 but the family vowed to continue their fight for the inheritance. On September 10, 2006 three days after giving birth in the Bahamas to a baby girl, Smith’s 20-year old son Daniel died suddenly. He had gone to the islands to be with his mom and his new baby sister. News reports said Smith woke at 9:38 AM that morning, noticed her son wasn’t breathing and screamed for help. Daniel was pronounced dead at 10:05 AM. Daniel Wayne Smith was born on January 22, 1986 according to general media sources. A subsequent report on toxicology and tissue tests indicated the presence of drugs, high levels of the antidepressant Zoloft and the prescription painkiller methadone. No conclusions were drawn as to whether his death was accidental or suicide. He had been under a doctor's care for depression and back pain. A few weeks later on September 28, Anna exchanged wedding vows with her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, who claims to be the father of her new baby named Dannilynn. The marriage did not appear to be legal but his name is on the baby's birth certificate as father.. Shortly after that, another man, Los Angeles photographer Larry Birkhead, claimed paternity. Birkhead filed a paternity suit on October 2, 2006 in Los Angeles. In a bizarre twist, she must stay in the Bahamas to avoid a California paternity test and suit by Larry Birkhead but she was being ousted from her Bahamas home that she was renting. She was urgently looking for a house to buy there. Smith faced the threat of a class-action suit against her for representing a diet formula. The tragic saga of her life ended in Florida on February 8, 2007. Three days earlier Smith had checked into the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Hollywood, Florida with her partner and lawyer Howard K. Stern. On the 8th, her private nurse summoned hotel workers at 1:38 PM after Smith collapsed. Emergency crews were called and found an unconscious and unresponsive Smith. She was taken to a nearby hospital at 2:10 PM and was pronounced dead. As of this writing autopsy reports are inconclusive; she was reportedly suffering from a high fever and flu-like symptoms. In the meantime, another person came forth to say that he may be the father of her 5-month old baby. The husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, Prince Frederick von Anhal, claimed that he had been having a long affair with Smith and may be the baby's father. She was buried March 2, 2007 in the Bahamas, after a judge decreed that she would be buried there next to her deceased son. The results of a DNA test on her baby Dannilyn, announced on April 10, 2007, showed that Larry Birkhead is the child’s father. Link to Wikipedia biography