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Anna Nicole Smith dead at 39
• Sad End to a Sad Life
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By
The Minx, Entertainment Editor
Monday,
12 February, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith, the voluptuous former Playboy centerfold who married octogenarian billionaire J Howard Marshall when he was 89 and she was 26, has died. She died on 8 February 2007 at the age of 39. Cause of death is as yet unknown.
Marshall died in 1995 at 90 leaving a $400m fortune and the family, led by stepson E Peirce Marshall, started a court battle to prevent Smith from inheriting any of his estate. The stepson died in June 2006 but the family have vowed to continue the fight.
In recent years Smith weight had fluctuated wildly as she struggled against drug addiction and advised by a shady lawyer Howard K. Stern, took her battle for Marshall’s fortune to the Supreme Court. After news came of Smith's death, G. Eric Brunstad Jr., the lawyer who represented Marshall, said in a statement: "We're very shocked by the news and extend the deepest condolences to her family."
Smith was devastated when her 20 year old son died last September while visiting his mother and her new born daughter Daniellynn in the Bahamas, just days after she gave birth. An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he had methadone and two antidepressants in his system when he died. Low levels of the three drugs interacted to cause an accidental death.
The court case for Marshall’s fortune is still on going with several men claiming paternity and Smith’s orphaned baby daughter is expected to be the subject of a court battle. The birth certificate lists Dannielynn's father as attorney Howard K. Stern, Smith's most recent companion. Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead is waging a legal challenge, saying he is the father.
Update on 11 April 2007
The medical examiner has ruled Smith died of an accidental overdose of sleeping medication and at least eight other prescription drugs, along with a case of the flu and a bacterial infection from injecting drugs into her buttocks.
Most of the drugs were prescribed in Stern's name, (her lawyer and boyfriend) the medical examiner found. The drugs which killed her son were also prescribed in Stern’s name.
On 11th April it was announced DNA tsts have shown that ex boyfriend Larry Birkhead is the father of Daniellyn. Birkhead recently parted company with his laywer amid reports he is reconciled with Howard K Stern. Both men had applied for custody of the child, as had Smith's mother.
Birkhead's lawyer commented that she wished Larry well but he would do well to remember he is swimming with sharks. Birkhead has applied for custody of the child as has Smith's mother.
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