Anna Nicole Smith Dies at Age 39

Anna Nicole Smith whose real life reflected the pages of a tabloid died on February 8, 2007 at age 39 while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Five months earlier, her 20-year-old son tragically passed away in her hospital room after the delivery of her daughter in the Bahamas.

She was Born Vickie Lynn Marshall on November 28, 1967. Early in her childhood, her family moved to Mexia a small town in Texas around 79 miles south of Dallas. In her teen years while living there, she worked as a waitress at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken as a waitress. This is also, where she met her first husband Billy Wayne Smith who worked as a cook at the restraunt.

On January 22, 1986, she gave birth to their son Daniel Wayne Smith. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work and she separated from her husband and moved to Houston, Texas with her son. Unable to find work that would pay enough to support her and her son Daniel she became an exotic dancer.

While she was working as a dancer at the strip club called Gigi's she met oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall and they began a two-year relationship. On February 3, 1993, she obtained a divorce from her first husband and then on June 27, 1994, Anna Nicole married the billionaire who was 63 years her senior. She was 26 years old at the time.

Thirteen months into her second marriage her husband J. Howard passed away on August 4, 1995. This proceeded to give way to a scandal and battle over his will. Protested by J. Howard's son E. Pierce Marshall she ended up in a legal battle over her inheritance over the 1.6 billion dollar estate.

She stated that her husband J. Howard had orally promised her half of his estate if she married him. In September 2000, she was awarded $449,754,134, an almost a half a billion dollars by a bankruptcy judge in Los Angeles. Unfortunately in July 2001, Judge Mike Wood of Houston, Texas affirmed the jury findings in the probate case. He ruled that she was entitled to nothing and she was ordered to pay over one million dollars in legal fees and expenses by Marshall's son Pierce's legal team.

In March 2002 the California bankruptcy, court's ruling was overturned by a federal judge and a new ruling reduced her award to $88 million dollars. In September 2005, The U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of that decision.

On May 1, 2006, the justices of The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Anna Nicole's favor. The decision did not give her a portion of her late husband's estate, but it did give her the right to pursue a share of it in federal court.

Anna Nicole's film career never really took off. She did appear in films such as The Hudsucker Proxy and Naked Gun 33 ½: The Final Insult in 1994. In 2002, though with the popularity of reality shows at an all time high she debuted in her own reality show called The Anna Nicole Show on the E! Cable network. It became the highest rated series on their network. In February 2004, though the show was cancelled over what was reported as "creative differences."

In October 2004, she made the transition to spokesperson for TrimSpa, which she attributed to helping her lose 69 pounds. She proceeded to lose a total of 80 pounds, which brought her back to her 1990's figure.

In June 1, 2006, she announced she was pregnant. She claimed the father was her longtime attorney and friend Howard K.Stern. However, her ex-boyfriend who is an entertainment photojournalist named Larry Birkhard also claimed to be the father and filed a lawsuit to challenge paternity.

On September 7, 2006 in Nassau Bahamas Danielynn Hope Marshall Stern was born. The official birth record shows the father being Howard K. Stern. Her joy over the birth of her daughter was short lived. While visiting Anna Nicole on September 10, 2006 in the hospital after the birth, her son 20-year-old Daniel collapsed and died in her room. The autopsy revealed he died of a lethal combination of Methadone, Zoloft, and Lexapro.

On September 28, 2006, Anna Nicole married Howard K. Stern the alleged father of her daughter were married in an informal ceremony off the coast of the Bahamas on a 41 foot catamaran. However, there was no marriage license thus making the marriage non-binding or legal.

On February 8, 2007, She was found unresponsive in her room on her bed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. She was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 2:49 pm. Her passing eerily resembles the death of Marilyn Monroe who she was often referred to as a mirror image.