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Anna Nicole Smith collapses, dies at 39
Ex-model found unresponsive in hotel; cause of death under
investigation
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Anna Nicole Smith
The short, tragic life of the former Playboy playmate and model.
AP
In this handout image from PETA, Anna Nicole Smith poses as Marliyn
Monroe for a 2004 PETA ad campaign titled, Gentlemen Prefer Fur Free
Blondes. Smith, the pneumatic blonde whose life played out as an
extraordinary tabloid tale - Playboy centerfold, jeans model, bride of
an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother - died
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007 after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39. (AP
Photo/PETA, Robert Sebree)
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Anna Nicole Smith, the curvaceous blonde whose life
played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale - Playboy centerfold,
jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show
subject, tragic mother - died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel.
She was 39.
She 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.
Just five months ago, Smith's 20-year-old son died suddenly in the
Bahamas in what was believed to be a drug-related death.
Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said a private nurse called 911
after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room at the hotel,
which is on an Indian reservation. He said Smith's bodyguard
administered CPR, but she was declared dead at a hospital. Later
Thursday, two sheriff's deputies carried out at least eight brown
paper bags sealed with red evidence tape from Smith's hotel room.
On Friday, a source told AccessHollywood.com that an employee of Smith
found her in her room at the hotel, pulled back a sheet covering her,
and that she appeared to have choked on her own vomit.
The same unnamed source claimed that Smith took what was referred to
as a "children's sedative," and had "kept passing out" before her
death.
Dr. Joshua Perper, the chief Broward County medical examiner who will
perform the autopsy, said if her death was from natural causes, the
findings would likely be announced quickly. He cautioned, however,
that definitive results could take weeks.
"I am not a prophet, and I cannot tell you before the autopsy what I
am going to find," he said.
Video: Anna Nicole Smith
SMITH BABY BATTLE PLAYS OUT IN COURT
March 16: The custody battle over Anna Nicole Smith's baby plays out
in Bahamian court. Kristen Dahlgren reports.
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
Marilyn Monroe looks, her exaggerated curves, her little-girl voice,
her ditzy-blonde persona, and her over-the-top revealing outfits.
Recently, she lost a reported 69 pounds and became a spokeswoman for
TrimSpa, a weight-loss supplement. On her reality show and other
recent TV appearances, her speech was often slurred and she seemed out
of it. Some critics said she seemed drugged-out.
"Undoubtedly it will be found at the end of the day that drugs
featured in her death as they did in the death of poor Daniel," said a
former attorney for Smith in the Bahamas, Michael Scott.
Another former Smith attorney, Lenard Leeds, told the celebrity gossip
Web site TMZ that Smith "always had problems with her weight going up
and down, and there's no question she used alcohol." Leeds said it was
no secret that "she had a very troubled life" and had "so many, many
problems."
"She wanted to be like Marilyn her whole life and ironically died in a
similar manner," Leeds said. Monroe died of a drug overdose at age 36
in 1962.
Smith attorney Ron Rale told The Associated Press that he had talked
to her on Tuesday or Wednesday, and she had flu symptoms and a fever
and was still grieving over her son. He dismissed claims her death was
related to drugs as "a bunch of nonsense."
'She's been the underdog'
"Poor Anna Nicole," he said. "She's been the underdog. She's been
besieged ... and she's been trying her best and nobody should have to
endure what she's endured."
The 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. 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.
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In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II,
owner of Great Northern Oil Co. In 1992, Forbes magazine estimated his
wealth at $550 million.
In a 2005 interview with ABC Smith recalled meeting Marshall at what
she called a "gentleman's club' in Houston. "He had no will to live
and I went over to see him," she said. "He got a little twinkle in his
eyes, and he asked me to dance for him. And I did."
Marshall died in 1995 at age 90, setting off a feud with Smith's
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.
The stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court
fight would continue.
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