Anna Nicole Smith | Howard K. Stern | Daniel Smith |
Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern | Virgie Arthur | Larry Birkhead |
J. Howard Marshall II | Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt | Alexander Denk |
Mark Hatten | Judge Larry Seidlin | Richard Milstein | G. Ben Thompson |
Shane Gibson
Anna Nicole SmithModel, Actress, Celebrity
Born and raised in Texas, Smith (born Vickie Lynn Hogan) first gained popularity in Playboy, initially as Playmate of the Month in May 1992 and then as 1993 Playmate of the Year. She also modeled for clothing companies, including Guess jeans and later starred in her own reality TV show, "The Anna Nicole Show."
Her highly publicized marriage to oil business executive and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior, resulted in speculation that she married the octogenarian for his money, which she denied. Following his death, she began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate; the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court on a question of federal jurisdiction.
In the months before her death on Feb. 8, 2007, she was the focus of renewed media coverage surrounding the birth and paternity of her daughter, Dannielynn, and the death of her son, Daniel Smith.(Photo: AP)
Howard K. SternAnna Nicole's Longtime Companion
Stern fought for the former Playboy centerfold to be buried next to her son in the Bahamas.
On Sept. 28, 2006, they exchanged vows in an informal wedding ceremony on a boat near Nassau, though it was not a legally binding marriage.
Stern had also claimed that he was the father of Anna Nicole's baby daughter. The Bahamian birth certificate lists the daughter's name as Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, with Howard as the father. Stern and Smith reportedly were staying in the Bahamas to avoid paternity testing in the U.S.
DNA tests were eventually ordered by a Bahamian court and showed that Anna Nicole's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, was Dannielynn's father. Stern told reporters after the results were announced that he's not going to fight Birkhead for custody.
During a probate hearing on June 19, 2007, Stern was named executor of Anna Nicole's will.(Photo: AP)
Daniel SmithAnna Nicole's Son
The son of the Anna Nicole by her first husband, Billy Smith, Daniel died at the age of 20 while visiting his mother at the maternity ward in Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas, on Sept. 10, 2006, three days after she had given birth to his half-sister, Dannielynn Hope. He is buried in the Bahamas.(Photo: Getty Images)
Dannielynn Hope Marshall SternAnna Nicole's Daughter
Anna Nicole's daughter, born Sept. 7, 2006, at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. The Bahamian birth certificate records the father as Howard K. Stern. Several people subsequently come forward claiming possible paternity of Dannielynn.
DNA analysis has proven that Larry Birkhead, Anna Nicole's former boyfriend, is Dannielynn's biological father, an expert in genetic evidence said April 10, 2007, after a closed court hearing in a legal battle for custody of the girl.(Photo: AP/Entertainment Tonight)
Virgie ArthurAnna Nicole's Mother
Anna Nicole's estranged mother who wanted her daughter's body buried in Texas. She also wanted her grandson Daniel's body exhumed in the Bahamas and brought to Texas to be buried alongside his mother in her native state.
Arthur appealed a judge's order that left the decision on where Anna Nicole will be buried to the court-appointed attorney for Smith's infant daughter. She lost the appeal and Anna Nicole was buried in the Bahamas next to her son, Daniel.(Photo: AP)
Larry BirkheadAnna Nicole's Former Boyfriend
DNA analysis has proven that Birkhead, Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend, is the father of her infant daughter, Dannielynn, an expert in genetic evidence said April 10, 2007, after a closed court hearing in a legal battle for custody of the girl.
Two months later, on June 19, 2007, Birkhead was named legal guardian of Dannielynn and Howard K. Stern was named executor of Anna Nicole's 2001 will, which was ordered into probate.
In the days after Smith's death, Birkhead, an entertainment photojournalist, claimed that he helped her prepare for the birth and gave her an ultimatum to enter rehab or he would seek custody. He says she agreed — but then ran off to the Bahamas with Stern in order to have the child.
Birkhead and Smith initially met in May 2004 at one of the major Louisville-area Kentucky Derby parties that attract celebrities.(Photo: AP)
Anna Nicole's Late Husband
In 1994, at the age of 89, the Texas oil tycoon married Anna Nicole who, at 26, was 63 years his junior. Their marriage lasted 14 months until his death. Smith had been fighting his family over Marshall's estimated $500 million fortune since his death in 1995. The case eventually wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to a story published in the New York Daily News, Donna Hogan, Smith's younger sister, had said that Anna Nicole froze Marshall's sperm prior to his death. The newspaper says Hogan wrote in an unpublished manuscript about her sister that Anna Nicole had hinted that she used Marshall's sperm and would be giving birth to Marshall's child. The publisher of Hogan's book described the newspaper's claims as a hoax. DNA testing later revealed that Anna Nicole's former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, was the child's biological father.
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