by Sandra B

Created on: February 11, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith, formerly Vickie Lynn Hogan, seemed until her very last breath to live the life of her idol Marilyn Monroe. She was a small town girl who had a big dream and managed to make a name for herself against all odds. When her modeling career took off in 1992, It appeared that Smith would lead the life she had always dreamed, and she did until the sudden and tragic death of her 20 year old son and best friend Daniel Wayne Smith on September 10, 2006, just three days after the birth of her baby girl Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern.

Daniel's death so close to her pregnancy seemed to leave Smith with deep emotional scars that she mainly hid from the public eye. It became aparent haowever, that Smith was putting on a strong front for the public but behind it all the world she once knew was rapidly crumbling. In addition to being a grieving mother, Smith also had to deal with the ongoing custody battle for young Dannielynn. While Smith stated the father was attorney Howard K. Stern, ex boyfriend Larry Birkhead claimed he himself was the father and that he had even purchased paternity clothes for Smith during the early months of her pregnancy.

Howard K. Stern, who is listed as the father on the birth certificate strongly believes Birkhead is simply after his 15 minutes of fame. Overwhelmed by all the drama in her life Smith told a close friend that she wasn't sure if she could do it anymore. In Smith's final interview made just ten days before her death, she appeared to be in a heavy state of gloom. When asked about her late son she heartbreakingly says, he is with her all the time and even in her dreams where he asks her to come to him. On February 8, 2007, Smith collapsed in her hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was pronounced dead at Memorial Regional Hospital less than two hours later.

Before her death Smith had a near death experience when she was found face down in her pool by attorney and significant other Howard K Stern, who she was set to marry Feburary 23, 2007. Now with nothing but Anna Nicole Smith's memory lingering in the air there are many questions left unanswered. Perhaps the biggest one of all being, was Smith so caught up in her son's death and her daughter's custody battle that she herself decided to end it all?

Learn more about this author, Sandra B.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.