During the 1990s, Anna Nicole Smith was one of the most talked-about and contentious celebrities.
She became well-known by modeling for Playboy magazine, which led to her being named Playmate of the Year. She later worked as a model for clothing companies like Guess and H&M.
She unfortunately lost her fame and money, as has happened in many other cases.
One of the most talked-about and contentious celebrities of the 1990s was undoubtedly Anna Nicole Smith.
After modeling for Playboy magazine, she gained notoriety and was even named Playmate of the Year in 1993. She then worked as a model for companies like Guess, H&M, Heatherette, and Lane Bryant.
Unfortunately, as we’ve seen time and time again, her celebrity and wealth turned out to be her undoing. However, Dannielynn, her daughter, continues to carry on her memory and legacy.
Vickie Lynn Hogan gave birth to Anna Nicole Smith in 1967. Her mother and aunt were mostly responsible for raising her as she grew up in Houston, Texas. When Anna was still a newborn, her father apparently made the decision to get up and leave.
Friends have spoken about Anna’s challenging upbringing and described it as quite challenging. Virgie, her mother, was very strict.
“Vickie’s childhood life was tough. [Her mother] was very… forthright and very strict,” longtime friend Jo McLemore told ABC News.
Anna, a high school dropout, fell in love with Billy Smith, a 16-year-old dropout. They got married fast, and Anna gave birth to her first child not long after. When Anna was just 18 years old, Daniel, her son, was born.
Sadly, the union with Billy wasn’t very long-lasting. Without a degree or a career, Anna Nicole became a single mother raising a son. She eventually found work as a dancer at a pub. The young, blond bombshell from Houston suddenly drew the attention of the powerful Playboy Magazine as a result of a series of events.
After working on multiple picture projects with Playboy, Anna Nicole rose to prominence in the modeling world.
She was signed by William Morris, one of the most praised talent agencies in the United States.
Modeling jobs poured in thereafter, and Anna Nicole appeared in advertising campaigns all over the world. She made huge headlines when she posed in lingerie for the Swedish clothing company H&M. In fact, that specific campaign caused quite a stir.People described Nicole Smith as a potential traffic hazard – drivers simply lost focus when they saw her pictures on billboards along the highways.
At the peak of her career, Anna Nicole Smith was one of the most recognized people globally, and the newspapers couldn’t get enough of her. For her part, Anna seemed to love the attention.
“I love the paparazzi. They take pictures, and I just smile away. I’ve always liked the attention. I didn’t get very much growing up, and I always wanted to be, you know, noticed,” she once told the Washington Post.
But of course, the life of a mega celebrity had its dark sides.
Her high-profile relationship with petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall was the beginning of her downfall. The 63-year-old age difference between Anna and her elderly husband raised many eyebrows – a lot of people were of the belief that Anna was only interested in Marshall because of his fortune.
The couple married in 1994, but just six months after the ceremony, Marshall became ill. He died in 1995 at the age of 90. The loss took a heavy toll on Anna.
A photograph of Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall II sits next to Marshall’s casket. (Photo by Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
”After my husband passed, it was really, really hard on me,” Smith told “20/20” in 2000.
”He knew me when I was nobody and that’s what people don’t understand, and I don’t wanna be called a gold digger because I’m not. I could’ve married him a week after we met, or two weeks after we met. I could’ve married him years before, and I didn’t. I didn’t. I went out and I made something of myself.”
In the following years, Anna spent a lot of her time in the courtroom. She fought with Marshall’s family over her husband’s will. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006.
Anna Nicole died of an overdose in 2007, but just a few months before that she had given birth to her daughter Dannielynn. Dannielynn was born in New Providence, the Bahamas and Anna announced her pregnancy in a video on her website.
Unfortunately, Anna would never see her daughter grow up.
In the wake of her famous mother’s death, Dannielynn quickly became one of the most talked-about children in the world. Her upbringing was surrounded by drama and speculation.
Initially, several men claimed to be the girl’s dad and a court eventually ordered a paternity test that revealed that Anna Nicole’s boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, was in fact Dannielynn’s dad.
“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I told you so. I’m the father. My baby’s going to be coming home pretty soon,” Larry told reporters outside the courthouse in Nassau, the Bahamas, in 2007.
Many worried about the future of the little girl as there are far too many examples of celebrity children who go down the wrong track, having to put up with a life they didn’t ask for.
Thankfully, dad Larry seems to have a healthier idea of how to raise a child. She’s been enrolled in a regular school, been in the scouts, and gone to church every Sunday. Currently, Dannielynn resides with her father in Kentucky.
“Anna Nicole was seduced by the showbiz lifestyle, and Larry wants to make sure Dannielynn doesn’t end up like her,” a source told National Enquirer a few years ago. “[Anna Nicole was] chasing stardom and surrounded by greedy hangers-on.”
Today, 14 years after her mother’s death, you can really see Anna Nicole when looking at the little girl’s face — according to many over the years, Dannielynn is the spitting of her beautiful mother.
Now that she’s a bit older, you can really see her personality shine through and look how similar she is to her father!
According to what Larry told Us Weekly, Dannielynn wants to “be a YouTuber and make videos”. However, he has told her, “‘That’s a lot of work, and you’re only 11 years old. If it’s something you want to do when you get older, you can, but right now let’s sell some Girl Scout cookies.’”
Dannielynn has also expressed the possibility of following in her mother’s footsteps and pursuing a career in acting. It’s pretty wonderful to like, act as a character and not yourself, she stated in an interview.
It’s like playing a different character. Fun ensues. She and her father have both been on a number of series together, such as “Life after Anna,” “Wife Swap,” and “The Millionaire Matchmaker.”
And it is evident that Anna Nicole’s daughter frequently thinks of her mother.
Dannielynn honored her late mother last year by dressing in a pink outfit akin to the one Anna wore in 2004 for the Kentucky Derby.
