Posted on 02/08/2007 1:17:38 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate whose bizarre life careened from marrying an octogenarian billionaire to the untimely death of her son, died Thursday after collapsing at a South Florida hotel, one of her lawyers said.
Smith, 39, collapsed and was unresponsive while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, said the attorney, Ron Rale. She was rushed to a hospital.
"She checked in Monday at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out tomorrow," said Danielle Giordaano, a spokeswoman for the hotel.
Smith had been a tabloid staple even before she became Playboy's playmate of the year in 1993. Readers were fascinated by her bombshell good looks, her marriage to an elderly billionaire and subsequent court fight over his estate, her weight fluctuations, and last year, the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith.
A former topless dancer, she made her name squeezing into Guess jeans. She resembled the late actress Marilyn Monroe, a similarity played up in her Guess magazine ads, billboards and department store displays.
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, 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 in a complicated legal twist that began after she declared bankruptcy. 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 justices said only that federal courts in California could deal with her case despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall was the sole heir to the estate.
Then, the stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court fight would continue.
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.
Meanwhile, the paternity of her now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter of dispute.
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.
Certainly worth investigating.But I'm unclear as to which family hired celebrity pathologist Wecht.In a case of dueling pathologists,I'd believe the one working for the government rather than a celebrity one hired by an individual who might have something to hide.IMO,Wecht's opinion deserves no more credibility than did Dr Henry Lee's testimony in the OJ case.
Interesting....looks like this guy Stern may have a hand in all of this.
If one gets married, why wouldn't the spouse inherit everything, unless each party made special provisions. If this man wanted to leave his estate to someone other than his spouse, he should have done so. By the way, I don't think the Courts involved here were in California. (Certainly not the Supreme Court)
I'd believe Wecht over anybody from the Bahamas. Ever been there?
I don't think anybody else ever did any testing...
It's not at all clear that the old man didn't know what he was doing when he left his fortune to her. At least one of his two sons was a useless ne'er-do-well who was just living off daddy's money. Quite possibly both of them were just a little too eager for daddy to die. Best revenge for a billionaire in that situation is to marry some cute young thing and leave the fortune to her. It's also notable that the sons never challenged their father's mental competence before they discovered he'd left his fortune to Anna Nicole. Why weren't they concerned about his mental competence when he decided to marry? Why weren't they concerned about his competence to manage his own affairs? If he really wasn't mentally competent you'd think that his sons would 1) be aware of that, and 2) take legal measures to have a guardian appointed. The only reason I can think of that they wouldn't have done that is that they knew they wouldn't be able to must evidence of his incompetence in court; in other words, they knew he wasn't mentally incompetent.
I'm not sure they are legally married.
Right. It is just sad.
In many jurisdictions the surviving spouse gets half and the children of the decedent get the other half, if there is no will. Or, if a will is executed before marriage, the marriage supercedes the will and this rule is implemented.
I heard it isn't legal in the USA.
If life was fair, we'd all be Greek Gods.
Now all eyes will be on that baby girl of hers and it all passes on. So sad. God bless her soul, may she find peace in death.
One of the news tabloid shows had her and Stern on last night, she was not in good shape speech or appearance-wise.. A sad ending.
I've heard of such laws, but I'm not sure about the sense in them. If a person gets married, presumably they have the ability to make a will etc. that will devide their property as they see fit, if they don't want it all to go to their spouse. (which would be the normal course)
Define ugly. I know it's a meme on Free Republic to harp on Helen Thomas' appearance, but wouldn't her spirit be what we should harp on? It's juvenile and sad to keep doing that.
Well, we now know what the lead story will be on Fox News tonight.
I would be willing to bet big $ on it.
Too bad.
I always liked her.
She was most men's idea of a real mature woman like Marilyn Monroe and not the skinny skeleton women that you mostly see today portrayed as the fashinon role-model for young women.
Between this and the astronaut, Greta's set for the next 6 months. RIP Anna Nicole.
WHERE are the PICS????
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