XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.law.enforcement, alt.true-crime   
   XPost: misc.legal   
   From: theprof@jonez.net   
      
   Anna Nicole Smith Dies At 39   
      
   Police Say Cause Of Death Has Yet To Be Determined   
      
    Slideshow: Anna Nicole Smith's Odd Life   
      
   (CBS) MIAMI Anna Nicole Smith, the voluptuous former Playboy centerfold who   
   married an octogenarian billionaire and waged a legal battle for his fortune   
   all   
   the way to the Supreme Court, died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She   
   was   
   39.   
      
   The blond bombshell-who recently became tabloid fodder all over again after the   
   sudden, apparently drug-related death of her 20-year-old son-was stricken while   
   staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a   
   hospital.   
      
   Edwina Johnson, chief investigator of the Broward County Medical Examiner's   
   Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be   
   done on Friday.   
      
   A private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor   
   room, said Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger. He said Smith's bodyguard   
   administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation about an hour before she was   
   declared   
   dead.   
      
   Through the '90s and into the new century, Smith was famous for being famous, a   
   pop-culture punchline because of her up-and-down weight, her exaggerated   
   curves,   
   her little-girl voice, her ditzy-blonde persona, and her over-the-top revealing   
   outfits.   
      
   The curvaceous Texas-born Smith was a topless dancer at strip club before she   
   entered her photos in a search contest and made the cover of Playboy magazine   
   in   
   1992, captivating readers with her Marilyn Monroe looks. She became Playboy's   
   playmate of the year in 1993.   
      
   She was also signed to a contract with Guess jeans, appearing in TV   
   commercials,   
   billboards and magazine ads.   
      
   In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the head of   
   oil-based Koch Industries, which is part of a family fortune worth at least   
   $400   
   million. He died in 1995 at age 90, setting off a feud with her former stepson,   
   E. Pierce Marshall, over whether she had a right to his estate.   
      
   A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million. That was later   
   overturned. But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that   
   she   
   deserved another day in court in her battle with her former stepson.   
      
   The stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court fight would   
   continue.   
   More recently, Smith's ballooning figure and up-and-down weight became a   
   subject   
   of public fascination. But she lost a reported 69 pounds and became a   
   spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a weight-loss supplement.   
      
   She starred in her own reality TV series, "The Anna Nicole Show," in 2002-04.   
   Cameras followed her around as she sparred with her lawyer, hung out with her   
   personal assistant and interior decorator, and cooed at her poodle, Sugar Pie.   
   She also appeared in movies, performing a bit part in "The Hudsucker Proxy" in   
   1994.   
      
   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's son, Daniel Smith, died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the   
   Bahamas, just days after she gave birth to a daughter.   
      
   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, Wecht said. Last month, a   
   Bahamas magistrate scheduled a formal inquiry into the death for March 27.   
      
   Meanwhile, the paternity of her now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter of   
   dispute. The birth certificate lists Dannielynn's father as attorney Howard K.   
   Stern, Smith's most recent companion. Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead was   
   waging a legal challenge, saying he was the father.   
      
   Debra Opri, the attorney who filed his paternity suit, said Birkhead "is   
   devastated. He is inconsolable, and we are taking steps now to protect the DNA   
   testing of the child. The child is our number one priority."   
      
   She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six   
   children   
   of Donald Eugene and Virgie Hart Hogan. She married Bill Smith in 1985, giving   
   birth to Daniel before divorcing two years later.   
      
   "From my professional exposure to Anna Nicole, I can say she was always   
   personable, down to earth and driven. All in all, a joy to have as a client,"   
   said Wayne Munroe, her Bahamian lawyer who has overseen the aftermath of her   
   son's   
   mysterious death in Nassau   
      
      
      
   --   
   Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)