We often follow the lives of celebrities with a close eye on how things turn out for them. Things can sometimes turn out well but all too often, fame and riches do not do well for them.
Such was the case with Anna Nicole Smith. She was one of the most talked about celebrities in the 1990s and she continues to be the topic of conversation today, many years after her death.
Anna Nicole Smith began to gain widespread popularity when she started to be featured in Playboy Magazine. She became so popular that she was actually the 1993 Playmate of the Year.
After being successful with Playboy, she gained additional exposure on the runway and in modeling for companies, such as Guess and Lane Bryant.
Anna Nicole Smith was born in 1967 and she had a difficult upbringing. Her father left the family when she was still a newborn and her mother ruled the family with a strong arm.
According to a longtime friend, Jo McLemore: “Vickie’s childhood life was tough. [Her mother] was very… forthright and very strict.”
Anna dropped out of highschool when she was 16 and was married with a young son, Daniel, when she was only 18 years old. That marriage didn’t last and soon, she was a single mom raising her child.
At the time, she needed work so she became a dancer at a pub. It wasn’t long before she drew the attention of Playboy Magazine and eventually became a well-known model.
After being signed by William Morris, she started to get jobs from many brands as a model. This included posing in Lingerie for H&M, which practically made her a household name.
She said: “I love the paparazzi. They take pictures, and I just smile away. I’ve always liked the attention. I didn’t get very much growing up, and I always wanted to be, you know, noticed.”
Her time in the limelight was not without its issues. She faced a lot of negative feedback after her marriage to J. Howard Marshall, who was 63 years older than her. Most believed she was only after his money.
Marshall became ill about 6 months after they were married in 1994 and he died at the age of 90 in 1995. Anna took it hard.
She said: “After my husband passed, it was really, really hard on me,” Smith told 20/20 in 2000.
“He knew me when I was nobody and that’s what people don’t understand, and I don’t wanna be called a gold digger because I’m not. I could’ve married him a week after we met, or two weeks after we met. I could’ve married him years before, and I didn’t. I didn’t. I went out and I made something of myself.”
After his death, she spent a lot of time fighting with the family over his will, a fight that eventually made it to the US Supreme Court.
In 2007, Anna Nicole Smith gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn. Unfortunately, she died of an overdose not long after the birth and never got to see her daughter grow up.
Several men claimed to be the father of Dannielynn but eventually, her boyfriend, Larry Birkhead was shown to be the dad after a paternity test. After this, many people were concerned that she was going to grow up with all of the typical problems of a celebrity child.
Fortunately, Larry seems to have done a good job raising her as a father. She went to a public school and was even in the scouts.
According to a source: “Anna Nicole was seduced by the showbiz lifestyle, and Larry wants to make sure Dannielynn doesn’t end up like her. [Anna Nicole was] chasing stardom and surrounded by greedy hangers-on”
14 Years have passed since Anna Nicole Smith passed away and when you look at Dannielynn, you can really see the resemblance to her famous mother.
She wants to be a YouTuber and make videos, but her father has told her: “That’s a lot of work, and you’re only 11 years old. If it’s something you want to do when you get older, you can, but right now let’s sell some Girl Scout cookies.’”
She has also expressed an interest in acting and has been on a number of series with her dad, including “Life after Anna,” “Wife Swap,” and “The Millionaire Matchmaker.”
We wish Dannielynn all the best. I’m sure her mother would have been proud.