by Dan Hartshorn

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

The sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith on Thursday, February 9, 2007 shocked the world. Only 39 years old, Anna swept through the entertainment world in her short life. She was a Guess Jeans model, Playboy Playmate and reality TV star. Her untimely death left behind her baby daughter Dannielyn and her lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern.

Smith was staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. At 1:38 p.m. Thursday, her private nurse alerted hotel staff that Anna Nichole needed medical attention. When paramedics arrived, they found her heart had already stopped and she wasn't breathing on her own. Her bodyguard was performing CPR. She was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood at 2:10 p.m. and died shortly after arrival. Cause of death is still unknown, pending autopsy, but Smith's attorney, Ron Rale, said in a statement to reporters that she had suffered symptoms akin to the flu in the past couple of days.

Smith's sister, Donna Hogan, made this statement to reporters the same day Anna died. "We are saddened and heartbroken by my sister's death. No matter what our differences have been over the years, Anna was still our blood and she will be missed terribly. She was a woman who was determined to get out of her small town in Texas and make a name for herself."

Anna Nicole, born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, started her entertainment career as a topless dancer at Gigi's a Houston club. She first appeared in Playboy Magazine in 1992, and was named Playmate of the Year in 1993. She modeled for Guess Jean ads, and began her appearance in movies in 1994, including the popular "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult."

That same year she married elderly oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall. Their relationship had begun in 1991 when they met at Gigi's. During their two-year relationship, he allegedly showered her with gifts and several times asked for her hand in marriage. On June 27, 1994, Smith, then age 26, and Marshall, age 89, were married in Houston. He died 13 months later and Smith began a legal battle with his son, E. Pierce Marshall, for half of her late husband's $1.6 billion estate.

From 2002 to 2004, Smith starred in her own reality TV show, "The Anna Nicole Show" on the E! Entertainment network. It rose to top of the network's ratings. The show's tagline was "It's not supposed to be funny... it just is" and it followed Anna through her "regular" life, from trips to the dentist to appearances at celebrity parties.

Anna Nicole

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