Anna Nicole Smith: Once More, the Fairy Tale Turns Nightmare

http://www.foxnews.com/ ^ | Sunday, February 11, 2007 | Susan Estrich

[nmh]

LOS ANGELES — On Thursday, the world stopped for the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Harvard is electing its first woman president, and the country may be ready to do the same, but the woman of the hour was the one who, as the producer of her most recent film put it, “had the market cornered on the dumb blonde act.”

Why is there still such a vibrant market for “the dumb blonde act?”

“People will see that maybe I have a little talent and will take me serious as an actress,” she said, in explaining her decision to star on “The Anna Nicole Show” which began its two year life on E! Entertainment in 2002.

What people saw, and heard, was that she had difficulty getting out a sentence straight. But Anna Nicole wasn’t somebody to listen to, but to look at. Or leer at. In justifying the endless coverage, the news people kept referring to her climb from the bottom to the top, from teenage mother and waitress to television personality and multi-millionairess.

If Anna Nicole Smith represents the top, we need to teach our daughters to aim elsewhere. If her life was a fairy tale come true, then it tells you what’s wrong with fairy tales. They lie, and mislead. She made it to the top, if you call it that, by taking off hers. She never owned her own success. She was defined by who she married and the size of her breasts. She made many lawyers rich, by fighting for the rights of the golddigger, but she never really won the fight. She gained weight and lost weight, and turned it into her most famous role. She was defined by who she used, and who used her.

[nmh]

It's a tragic situation that should never have happened.