She is vastly known as Anna Nicole Smith but very few people know her real name – Vickie Hogan Lynn. Anna’s life is a tale of humble beginnings that soon skyrocketed to life on the fast lane; drugs, fame, wild parties, body augmentations-gone-wrong.
Anna Nicole Smith’s Bio
Anna was born on the 28th of November, 1967 but sadly passed away on February 8th, 2007. She was an American actress and model. She first burst onto the scene when she gained fame in Playboy and in 1993 won playmate of the year.
She was born in Houston, Texas. Her father is Donald Eugene Hogan and her mother Virgie Mae Arthur. She attended Durkee Elementary and later went onto Aldine Senior High school in Houston. Anna was not cut out for the classroom, she failed her first year and by her second year, she had dropped out at the age of 14. She picked up a job as a waitress at a fried chicken restaurant where she met and married Billy Wayne Smith who was a cook at the restaurant. She was barely 18 when she married Billy and gave birth to their son Daniel Smith just a year after their marriage on the 22nd of Jan, 1986.
It was her second marriage that gained vast publicity. At 26, she married an 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall whom she’d met while stripping. The mogul died after only 13 months of marriage and interestingly, he didn’t name Smith in his will. Anna sued for half of her late husband’s $1.6 billion estates, a legal battle that lasted another 11 years.
The big break for Anna Nicole Smith came when she was the cover of Playboy in 1993 and was also named Playmate of the Year in 1993 by Hugh Heffner.
Smith secured a deal to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in a Guess jeans ad campaign. In 1993, she modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M. This led to her being pictured on large billboards in Sweden and Norway. Smith also appeared on the cover of German Marie Claire magazine.
Though successful as a model, her sojourn into acting was not as impressive. Her acting debut came in the 1994 comedy film, The Hudsucker Proxy. She stared next as Tanya Peters in Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. Anna Nicole Smith got her first lead role in “To the Limit” where she played Colette Dubois, a retired spy, seeking revenge on the murderer of her late husband.
Later in her life, in 2011, after her breast implant rupture, one of her nipples tore off, she went back to the use of painkillers.
Anna Nicole Smith’s Husband
Smith first got married as a teenager to Billy Wayne Smith but got divorced in 1993. She wasted no time in getting married again to Howard Marshall who was 63 years her senior.
Net Worth
Anna Nicole Smith owed most of her wealth to her marriage to oil business mogul J. Howard Marshal. While Marshal was alive, he spent lavishly on Anna. At the time of her death, her estimated net worth was about $50 million.
Body Measurements, Height
All through her lifetime, Anna’s strongest attribute has been her sex appeal and she weighed about 125 pounds. Her vital statistics were 36-28-38. She stood at 5 ft 11”
Anna Nicole Smith’s Daughter, Son
Anna Nicole had just two children, a son named Daniel Wayne Smith from her first marriage to Billy and a daughter Dannielynn Birkhead whom she named after her first son Daniel who tragically passed on just 5 months after her birth. Dannielynn’s paternity was another source of intrigue and twist.
Anna’s attorney Howard K. Stern, Larry Birkhead (Anna’s photographer), Alexander Denk, (Anna’s bodyguard) Frederic von Anhalt, husband of the actress Zsa Zsa Gabor all claimed paternity of Dannielynn.
Anna herself had named Howard K. Stern as the father on her daughter’s birth certificate. After DNA testing, Larry Birkhead was formally established as Dannielynn’s father. He went on to change her last name after gaining custody of his daughter Dannielynn.
Anna Nicole Smith’s Death
Anna Nicole’s death had a bit of a sour taste when she was found just five months after giving birth to her first Daughter on the floor of her hotel room in Hollywood. Her death was later diagnosed to be an accidental overdose on the 8th of February, 2007.
