GOOD BYE ANNA
3/1/07
I have held off writing about Anna Nicole Smith’s carnival of calamity until now. It was not clear to me until recently; as to what attracted my attention and the attention of the television watching world to Anna Nicole Smith’s strange and tragic life.
The details of her life’s story are stranger than a Sci-Fi mystery. The bizarre list of characters is a novelist’s nightmare. An internationally known, Marilyn Monroe look alike , a villainous lawyer / manager. An 89 year old Texas billionaire; who marries a 26 year old, big breasted, blonde, stripper, Playboy Playmate; who speaks with a Texas drawl. The son of the dead billionaire, contesting Anna’s claim to 500 million dollars after her two year marriage to his father. He suddenly dies from a heart attack after the will is contested in the U.S Supreme Court. Even the President of the United States encourages a Supreme Court decision in Anna’s favor.
In chapter two of this outrageous novel poor Anna is seen successfully fighting her weight problem in a nationally publicized weight loss program. Her picture is plastered on every gossip magazine in world. Her on going personal battle with alcohol and prescription drug addiction creates greater public interest. She is seen and heard on every television news program slurring her speech and staggering at celebrity functions.
In chapter three world wide attention is given to her sudden pregnancy and the questionable paternity claims of half a dozen fathers. An even further, unbelievable, character is Zsa Zsa Gabor’s 8th and most current husband, who is in his 70s and nick named by his friends ” The Prince of Beverly Hills”. He claims to have had a long affair with Anna and he is the father of her daughter. Another paternal possibility is a frozen embryo fertilized by Anna’s dead 89 year old, billionaire husband! No publisher would even consider publishing a work of fiction so totally unbelievable. To add further insult to a bad novel Anna’s 20 year old son , who has been kept virtually unknown to the media, arrives at his mother’s bedside in a Bahamas hospital; after she gives birth to her daughter. If that isn’t enough to throw the book away her son dies in the hospital bed next to her two days later by a mysterious drug overdose possibly administered to him by her manager / lawyer; who was also sleeping in the same hospital room with her , and discovered the son was dead. Anna was woken up by Howard K Stern her manager / lawyer, (not the famous radio personality) and became hysterical, and tried to revive her son by CPR ; until the hospital staff arrived.
A few weeks after her son’s death while in mourning for her son Anna becomes overwrought and continues her abuse of prescription drugs, supplied to her by her lawyer / manager; while she is undergoing intravenous drug withdrawal treatments, in the same Bahamas hospital that her son died in, and her daughter was born in. To make matters even more screwed up Anna signed the birth certificate of her daughter claiming her manager / lawyer as the father. Three days later her son dies in the hospital bed next to her. Her Will stated, that her estate would all be given to her son. Her manager / lawyer never drew up another Will after his death, which left the existing Will null and void. The only heir listed in the Will had died by mysterious circumstances, which involved Howard K. Stern (not the popular radio personality) who was Anna’s manager / lawyer, lover , father of her daughter, drug dealer. In a later testimony given by Anna’s live in lover, one of the claimants of fatherhood of Anna’s daughter stated under oath; that he knew Anna and Howard Stern, her manager / lawyer, never had sex together. He stated that Howard Stern often slept on the downstairs’ couch, while he always slept with Anna. He also stated under oath; that Anna had told him shortly after she was pregnant that he was the baby’s father.
In chapter four , poor grief stricken Anna is contemplating suicide to join with her dead son. She refused to allow a paternity test demanded by her celebrity photographer, ex boyfriend, and live in lover. He stated under oath in court testimony; that he is the rightful father of Anna’s daughter, and her manager / lawyer, manipulated Anna into naming him as the father of her daughter. Her manager / lawyer refused to submit to a DNA test and kept poor, grief stricken, Anna in a steady supply of prescription drugs which allowed him to control her. The plot becomes totally unfathomable as the public witnesses Anna’s mental unraveling as she gives incoherent, nationally televised and printed interviews to the media. Unbelievably, within four months of the death of her son, and birth of her daughter poor Anna is found dead in her room in Florida at a ” Hard Rock Hotel”. She died from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs combined with methadone. The same deadly cocktail of drugs that killed her son. Too make the plot even more convoluted, the coroner’s report stated; that there was no foul play as a cause of Anna’s death, and that she also suffered from a congenital heart problem, which was complicated by her prescription drug abuse.
In chapter five, Anna’s ex live in boyfriend’s law suit demand for a DNA sample is contested by Anna’s manager /lawyer; who is specified on the birth certificate as the father of Anna’s daughter. Meanwhile, Anna’s estranged mother files a law suit for custody of Anna’s body, to be buried in Anna’s home state of Texas. She also filed to receive custody of Anna’s daughter. The most absurd irony of this strange story is; that Anna’s famous body , celebrated in Playboy magazine as ” Playmate of the Year” and ogled at by millions of her male fans, lies in a morgue unembalmed and rapidly deteriorating for three weeks. A nationally televised, carnival like, court hearing overseen by an insane judge, prolongs the simple probate decision to optimize his own national attention for an opportunity of receiving a lucrative, daytime courtroom television program on a major network.
I have been wondering how the next chapter now being written of the “Insane Saga of Anna Nicole Smith” will turn out. As creative as I might be I can not write anything more twisted or absurd than what has already transpired in the first five chapters of this never ending real life novel. I have read that Anna’s body will be buried finally in a ceremony in the Bahamas. Her mother lost her law suit to have Anna’s body buried in Texas. I have read that 300 close friends and relatives have been invited to Anna’s burial ceremony . Her closed coffin was covered with a pink rhinestone drape and pink roses, which was Anna’s favorite flower and color. She was buried in a special hand made beaded gown. A DNA test has been ordered by the court to determine the biological father of Anna’s daughter. A court assigned administrator was assigned to Anna’s daughter Danny Lynn, until legal custody can be determined.
I have reported this strange story as I have understood it based upon the media coverage I have heard and read. I am trying to understand it myself. I end this article at chapter six of the “Continuing Saga of Anna Nicole Smith”. I am as confused by this story as anyone. That is why I felt the need to write about it.
I wondered if I could learn anything from the tragic life of Anna Nicole Smith? I wonder if Anna is at peace with her son? I wonder if Anna is a symbol of the times we live in? Did her drive for fame and fortune , compounded by her addictions, push her to insanity and suicide? Did her obsession with the Hollywood image of Marilyn Monroe lead her down the destructive path, that destroyed both women? Did Anna understand that Marilyn was really Norma Jean Baker not the illusion created by Hollywood producers and makeup artists? Will Anna’s daughter ever know and understand who her real mother was? Will she ever know who her real father is? These are just a few of the questions I hope will be answered in the continuing saga of, “The Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith”.
L.A. STEEL
Recent Comments