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http://www.masbakersfield.com/home/ViewPost/19483

I found this part interesting:

“I was in the Bahamas vacationing, but then when I got there, she (Smith) had decided she wanted to go get this boat,” said Serrano about Smith’s recent decision to purchase a yacht for easier traveling within the Bahamas. “We all went together to Florida to stay at the Hard Rock for a day or two, while Howard (K. Stern, Smith’s attorney) went out looking for the right boat she wanted.”

Serrano said that Smith planned to christen her yacht, “The Cracker” because that was Daniel’s nickname. While at the Hard Rock, fight promoter Don King invited Smith and her party to a heavyweight championship bout after learning the celebrity was there, Serrano said.

But here is the rest of the article:

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Saying goodbye to Anna Nicole Bakersfield hairstylist shocked, saddened over sudden death of her friend / client

It was in the wee hours of Jan. 10 — Sandy Serrano needed to catch an early morning flight back to the U.S. from the Bahamas, but she would not board her plane without first saying goodbye to her friend and client, Anna Nicole Smith.

She went to Smith’s bedroom — where little Dannielynn Hope, then 4 months old, was already awake. And like so many other times over their two-year relationship, Serrano — a native Bakersfield resident who since moved to Southern California, becoming the personal hairstylist to the model/actress — bid Smith farewell with a kiss and a hug, also saying goodbye to Dannielynn, until the next time.

But there would be no next time, for that day would be the last Serrano would ever see Smith alive.

Less than a month later, Feb. 8, the former Playboy Playmate was found unresponsive in her Florida hotel room and was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. Smith was 39.

Serrano was shocked, even disbelieving of the initial media reports about Smith’s condition.

“I was at work (in L.A.,) in the middle of a client, and somebody told me they found her unresponsive in a hotel room in Florida, so immediately I knew that she was at the Hard Rock, because that’s where she always stayed,” said Serrano, 34, in an exclusive telephone interview with MÁS magazine from her Studio City home. “‘Unresponsive’ to me meant that she had just passed out, something just happened and she was going to be OK.”

As time passed, Serrano nervously waited for word on Smith’s status.

“I was thinking, ‘She’s gonna be OK, she’s gonna be OK,” Serrano recalled.

Then, the devastating news was announced over the radio, and relayed to Serrano through a frantic series of text messages and a flood of cell phone calls.

Her friend was dead, and Serrano’s mind went into a spin.

“Of course, I flipped out,” she said.

Foul play has since been ruled out as the cause of Smith’s death, but the investigation continues as to what actually killed the former reality TV star and Trim Spa diet spokeswoman, whose 20-year-old son, Daniel, also died suddenly Sept. 10 — just three days after the arrival of his newborn sister — while visiting Smith in a Nassau hospital.

For Serrano, as much as she wants answers in the death of Smith, this is a time to mourn a dear friend and a time to set the record straight.

Media frenzy and tabloid reports did much to fuel a persona of Smith that did not accurately portray her, according to Serrano.

Smith’s existence in front of the cameras was often a spectacle of circus proportions.

But to Serrano, Smith’s life away from the celebrity spotlight was really the opposite.

She fondly recalled how the pair first met, quite by fate.

“Anna had lost her hairdresser, and Kimmy (Smith’s personal assistant) was getting her hair done by my boss,” said Serrano, a hairstylist for nearly 17 years now. “My boss said she (Smith) needed hair extensions, so she basically sent her to me.”

For their first appointment, Serrano visited Smith’s home — also in Studio City — the same house where “The Anna Nicole Show” on the “E!” channel was taped, conveniently located behind the salon where Serrano worked.

Serrano remembers briefly meeting Smith on a few social occasions prior to that day’s appointment, but never thought it would lead to a client relationship, let alone a friendship.

“Honestly, it was kind of weird because the first time I met her, I walked into her house, and since I had always watched her show, it felt like I already knew her,” said Serrano of that day. “But also before, I have this weird thing where I know who I’m going to meet. It was like I already knew her.”

Serrano was escorted to the star’s bedroom for an introduction.

“It was just really quiet,” she said. “Her house is really big, and I walked into her room, and she was sitting on her bed, and she just looked really pretty, just from out of bed. No make-up, she just looked really pretty.”

After their second styling appointment, Serrano — who previously worked at Outrage salon in downtown Bakersfield — was notified that Smith liked her work and wanted to hire Serrano as her personal stylist.

“Kimmy told me, ‘Anna really likes you, we were wondering if you could come more often, or if you could work with her every time she needs you for something and travel,’” Serrano said. “That was a compliment — and a big deal. I didn’t know it was going to happen in my future.”

That future took Serrano along with Smith to various locations, including a glamorous photo shoot for Trim Spa and a couple months in Vermont for the filming of “Illegal Aliens” (2006), a yet to be released movie that also included a small role for Smith’s son.

Serrano spent many flights seated next to Smith, even cat-napping together between destinations. When staying in hotels, they often had suites located across from each other.

In fact, that was just the case in early January, when the pair stayed in the same hotel that would be the site of Smith’s eventual death — the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

But Smith was more like regular people than her celebrity image, according to Serrano.

Because she was from Bakersfield, Serrano said she always felt a common bond with the starlet, who being from Mexia, Texas, also knew all about life with that small town feel.

“She was like a real person, and I always explain to people that she was somebody that was like from Bakersfield,” Serrano said. “She wasn’t like how you would think Hollywood people were like — she’d cook for you, get up and do anything for you.”

Although, Smith never did make a visit to Bakersfield — but not because she didn’t want to, Serrano said.

“She never went with me, but I remember her getting mad that I didn’t take her with me when I went. Mad because I didn’t invite her,” said Serrano.

Serrano also appreciated Smith’s non-judgmental attitude toward her hairstylist’s appearance, which includes a wide assortment of colorful “body art.”

“She didn’t judge me,” said Serrano of Smith. “She didn’t think I was weird for having tattoos like other people do.”

Some of Serrano’s most memorable times spent with Smith, include activities much more on the mundane side, but fun just the same, she said.

“I went there twice a week to do her hair, but I went there everyday after work. I knew that she didn’t have a lot of friends. I mean, you can tell when someone doesn’t, and she always wanted to watch TV with me, and she always just wanted to hangout,” she said. “‘Fear Factor’ was like her favorite thing ever. She’d watch it to the point that I’d get tired of it and get grossed out by it. If not that, it would just be like rented DVD’s — her favorite was watching horror movies.”

As she watches the media storm surrounding her friend’s untimely death, including what Serrano calls false reports and unfair assessments, it’s a horror movie of sorts come true.

And though she knows firsthand how difficult it was for Smith to deal with Daniel’s death, Serrano strongly believes this was not a suicide.

“The first thought going through my head was that she was left alone, she thought of Daniel, she committed suicide,” Serrano said. “Anytime you left her alone, she thought of Daniel too much. Even if you were in front of her, sometimes she would break down and think of Daniel ... she wanted to see Daniel again ... she would cry a lot, so I just assumed that it was a suicide.

“But then I really thought about it, about the boat, that Howard wasn’t in the room, when they said Moe was there — that’s her bodyguard — his wife was there — that’s the nurse — and they started saying how many people were in the room ... Moe’s kids were there, so it probably happened in front of his kids ... they used to like to visit Anna. So then I started thinking that there was no possibility that she would ever commit suicide in front of children, in Florida, with all those people — ... you just don’t do that, you know?”

Plus, Serrano said, Smith was very involved in the building/remodeling of her new home in the Bahamas, yet another sign that she was looking toward the future.

“She was building a dance studio there ... She was having a 10-foot wall built up around her house so that nobody could, like, take pictures of the baby. She wanted privacy,” Serrano said.

Since Smith’s death, Serrano has tried to contact Stern, whom she considers her friend as well, but has yet to speak with him.

“I tried to call him on the numbers I have, and of course, they were her (Smith’s) phone numbers and her phone and I don’t know if he’s gonna check ‘em — I know eventually he (will), but it’s her voice that answers when you call,” said Serrano, who’s also getting calls from various tabloids looking for a story in the midst of a tragedy.

But, for Serrano, the real story about Anna Nicole Smith is one of a sweet person, a cherished friend, someone who treated her hairstylist like family and her devoted fans with a devotion of her own.

“She loved her fans; she loved every single person, every fan,” Serrano said.

Serrano and Smith planned to see each other again next month, in the Bahamas for Serrano’s upcoming 35th birthday.

Instead, Serrano has made another plan — she’s getting a new tattoo added to the canvas that is her skin: a portrait of Anna Nicole Smith.

Matt Munoz Más staff