Anna Nicole Smith Biography

Anna was born on 28th November 1967 in Houston and was raised in Mexia, Texas by Donald Hogan and Virgie Mae. Her mother was working as a deputy sheriff.

After her parents’ divorce in 1969, Anna was raised by her mother and aunt. She had a difficult childhood. She attended Durkee Elementary School and Aldine Senior High School in Houston. However, she dropped out of the school.

As a teenager, she worked at a local fried chicken restaurant where she met a cook, Billy Smith. At the age of 17, in 1985, she married Billy and had a son named Daniel a year later. Anna and Billy separated in 1993.

After the separation, she moved to Houston and started doing odd jobs such as working at Walmart and exotic dancing at a strip club.

In 1992, she shot to fame when she modeled for ‘Playboy’ magazine. Immediately, she became a modeling sensation. She also appeared in advertisements for ‘Guess’ fashion brand later that same year.

In 1993, she modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M.

In 1994, she appeared in the comedy series ‘The Hudsucker Proxy’. She appeared as a celebrity who flirts with the lead character. The same year she also appeared in the movie ‘Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult’. This film was a commercial success. Both these roles were small. After this, she remained in the news by appearing in many celebrity magazines. She enjoyed being in the news and all the attention she was garnering from the media.

The film ‘To The Limit’ fetched her the lead role and was released in 1995. In this film, she portrayed a retired spy seeking revenge for her husband’s murder. This film was not successful. She appeared as herself in the pilot episode of ‘The Naked Truth’.

In 1996, she again tried to make a place in Hollywood by playing a lead role in ‘Skyscraper’. This was a low-budget, direct-to-video movie. This film too did not do well and her film career got stalled.

Thereafter, she turned to the small screen. She appeared in ‘Sin City Spectacular’ in 1998. The same year, she appeared in the tell-all, self-promoting film ‘Anna Nicole Smith: Exposed’. This film was based on her ‘Playboy’ tenure.

In 1999, she played the role of Veronica Chase’s friend in the sitcom ‘Veronica’s Closet’. She also played a guest role in ‘Ally McBeal’.

In 2002, her daily life was brought in front of people with a reality show ‘The Anna Nicole Show’. Even though for a major part of this show, she seemed to be disoriented or confused; the show was a big hit.

She returned to film acting in 2003 with a comedy film ‘Wasabi Tuna’.

In her entire career, she struggled with her weight on and off. Her weight was 224 lbs in 1996, which she brought down to 138 lbs in 1997. Hence, she represented a line of diet products in 2003. She also did some modeling during this period.

In 2006, she starred in the science fiction comedy ‘Illegal Aliens’. Her son Daniel also appeared with her on this project. This was her final screen appearance.

Even after death, she continued to inspire movies and books. In 2011, an opera titled ‘Anna Nicole: telling Smith's tragic tale in song’ was launched in London. Lifetime TV network released ‘The Anna Nicole Story’.

Her reality show ‘The Anna Nicole Show’, released in 2002, was a success. This show was created to cash on her rising popularity as a gossip columnist. This show was given the highest cable rating. This show featured herself, her son Daniel, her assistant Kimberly Walther, her gay interior decorator Bobby Trendy, her cousin Shelly Cloud, her poodle ‘Sugar Pie’ and her lawyer/boyfriend Howard K. Stern. The show had created quite a stir in college students and pop fans. Still, the second season of this show was not aired because, till that time, the channel had lost interest in the show.

In 1993, she was one of the beauties who had been selected as ‘Playmate of the Year’ by Playboy magazine. This magazine gave her an identity and created her sex symbol image which stuck with her for her whole life.

She was born as Vickie Lynn Hogan. During one of the advertisement assignments, she changed her name to Anna Smith.

She was not happy with the small-town life in Mexia and wanted to make it big in life. Hence, she came to Houston and started working as a dancer in a strip club. In 1991, she met J. Howard Marshall II at this club. He was an American business magnate.

Anna and Marshall got married in 1994 and remained married until his death in 1995. Their marriage created a huge controversy as at the time of marriage, she was 26 years old whereas he was 89 years of age. She allegedly married Marshal only for his estate.

After Marshal’s death, she filed a case against her former stepson E. Pierce Marshall, for half of her late husband’s estate, worth $1.6 billion. J. Howard Marshall II’s contested will had been drawn up soon after his marriage to Smith and neither she nor his younger son was mentioned in it. She claimed that he had verbally promised her half of his fortune if she married him. She fought a lengthy legal battle. In September 2005, the case reached the US Supreme Court and on 1st May 2006 she won the chance to pursue her claims in a federal court. However, her life took tragic turns thereafter.

She delivered her second baby on 7th September 2006 in the Bahamas. She named this baby girl Dannielynn. However, just three days after the birth of her daughter, Daniel, her 20-year-old son, died in the same hospital room from an apparent drug overdose.

After her son’s death, she again became the subject of headlines and gossip over the paternity issue of her daughter. Her ex-boyfriend and photographer Larry Birkhead, claimed to be Dannielynn’s father. However, Anna stated that her attorney, Howard K. Stern, was her daughter’s father, and he was listed on the birth certificate. In the midst of all the paternity issues, Anna and Stern held a small mock commitment ceremony. However, this ceremony was not legally binding.

On 8th February 2007, at the age of 39, she died after being unconscious in her hotel room in Florida. Her death was supposed to be from an overdose of drugs to which she was addicted.

After her death, a DNA test certified that Larry Birkhead was the biological father of her daughter.

When she got married to Howard Marshall, she took off for Greece without him. They were not even staying together in his last days.

She filed for bankruptcy in 1996 when a former female assistant sued her for $850,000 on sexual harassment charges.

Marilyn Monroe was her idol.

She supported the anti-fur movement. She also appeared in advertisements for the animal rights group ‘PETA’.