Anna Nicole Smith

Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and television personality. Born in Houston, Texas, on November 28, 1967, she was raised primarily by her mother in Mexia, Texas. She dropped out of Mexia High School in 1984 and later worked as an exotic dancer before launching her modeling career.

Smith first gained prominent recognition appearing as the May 1992 centerfold in Playboy magazine under the name Vickie Smith, and was named the 1993 Playmate of the Year. Adopting the stage name Anna Nicole, she succeeded Claudia Schiffer as the face of Guess Jeans in 1993. She went on to model for Swedish retailer H&M, appear on the covers of Marie Claire and GQ, walk the runway for Heatherette, and participate in an anti-fur advertising campaign for PETA in 2004.

Smith launched an acting career in 1994 with minor roles in The Hudsucker Proxy and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. She subsequently held lead roles in the direct-to-video action thrillers To the Limit (1995) and Skyscraper (1996). Between 2002 and 2004, she starred in her own reality television series, The Anna Nicole Show, on the E! Network. Her final film project was the low-budget science fiction comedy Illegal Aliens, which was released posthumously in 2007.

In 2003, Smith became a commercial spokeswoman for the dietary supplement brand TrimSpa. She credited the product with helping her lose 69 pounds, though she and the brand were named in a class-action lawsuit shortly before her death regarding misleading marketing claims. She also made notable media appearances, including a spoof of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the 2005 MTV Australia Video Music Awards.

Smith was married to Billy Wayne Smith from 1985 to 1993, with whom she had a son, Daniel Wayne Smith. In 1994, she married 89-year-old petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall. Following Marshall's death in 1995, Smith engaged in a lengthy court fight over his $1.6 billion estate with his son, E. Pierce Marshall. The legal conflict involved bankruptcy proceedings and eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in 2006 regarding federal court jurisdiction over her claims.

In September 2006, Smith gave birth to her daughter, Dannielynn, in the Bahamas. Three days later, her son Daniel died at age 20 from an accidental drug overdose in her hospital room. Later that month, Smith participated in an informal commitment ceremony with her attorney Howard K. Stern. After Smith's death, a paternity lawsuit confirmed photographer Larry Birkhead as Dannielynn's biological father through DNA testing.

On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. She was pronounced dead at age 39 from combined drug intoxication. Litigation over Marshall's estate continued after her death on behalf of her daughter, eventually concluding in federal court without granting her estate a portion of the funds.