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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/2/8/160015.shtml?s=en
Anna Nicole Smith Dies After Collapsing
NewsMax.com Wires Friday, Feb. 9, 2007
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate whose
bizarre life careened from marrying an octogenarian billionaire to the
untimely death of her son, died Thursday after collapsing at a South Florida
hotel, one of her lawyers said.
Smith, 39, collapsed and was unresponsive while staying at the Seminole Hard
Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, said the attorney, Ron Rale. She was rushed to a
hospital.
"She checked in Monday at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out
tomorrow," said Danielle Giordaano, a spokeswoman for the hotel.
Smith had been a tabloid staple even before she became Playboy's playmate of
the year in 1993. Readers were fascinated by her bombshell good looks, her
marriage to an elderly billionaire and subsequent court fight over his
estate, her weight fluctuations, and last year, the sudden death of her
20-year-old son, Daniel Smith.
A former topless dancer, she made her name squeezing into Guess jeans. She
resembled the late actress Marilyn Monroe, a similarity played up in her
Guess magazine ads, billboards and department store displays.
In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the head
of oil-based Koch Industries, which is part of a family fortune worth at
least $400 million.
He died in 1995, setting off a feud with her former stepson, E. Pierce
Marshall, over whether she had a right to his estate.
A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million in a complicated
legal twist that began after she declared bankruptcy. That was later
overturned.
But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that she
deserved another day in court in her battle with her former stepson.
The justices said only that federal courts in California could deal with her
case despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall was the sole heir to
the estate.
Then, the stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court
fight would continue.
Daniel Smith died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas,
just days after she gave birth to a daughter.
An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he had
methadone and two antidepressants in his system when he died. Low levels of
the three drugs interacted to cause an accidental death, Wecht said.
Meanwhile, the paternity of her now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter
of dispute.
She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six
children of Donald Eugene and Virgie Hart Hogan.
She married Bill Smith in 1985, giving birth to Daniel before divorcing two
years later.
Anna Nicole Smith Dies After Collapsing
NewsMax.com Wires Friday, Feb. 9, 2007
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy playmate whose
bizarre life careened from marrying an octogenarian billionaire to the
untimely death of her son, died Thursday after collapsing at a South Florida
hotel, one of her lawyers said.
Smith, 39, collapsed and was unresponsive while staying at the Seminole Hard
Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, said the attorney, Ron Rale. She was rushed to a
hospital.
"She checked in Monday at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out
tomorrow," said Danielle Giordaano, a spokeswoman for the hotel.
Smith had been a tabloid staple even before she became Playboy's playmate of
the year in 1993. Readers were fascinated by her bombshell good looks, her
marriage to an elderly billionaire and subsequent court fight over his
estate, her weight fluctuations, and last year, the sudden death of her
20-year-old son, Daniel Smith.
A former topless dancer, she made her name squeezing into Guess jeans. She
resembled the late actress Marilyn Monroe, a similarity played up in her
Guess magazine ads, billboards and department store displays.
In 1994, she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, the head
of oil-based Koch Industries, which is part of a family fortune worth at
least $400 million.
He died in 1995, setting off a feud with her former stepson, E. Pierce
Marshall, over whether she had a right to his estate.
A federal court in California awarded Smith $474 million in a complicated
legal twist that began after she declared bankruptcy. That was later
overturned.
But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling that she
deserved another day in court in her battle with her former stepson.
The justices said only that federal courts in California could deal with her
case despite a Texas state court ruling that Marshall was the sole heir to
the estate.
Then, the stepson died June 20 at age 67. But the family said the court
fight would continue.
Daniel Smith died Sept. 10 in his mother's hospital room in the Bahamas,
just days after she gave birth to a daughter.
An American medical examiner hired by the family, Cyril Wecht, said he had
methadone and two antidepressants in his system when he died. Low levels of
the three drugs interacted to cause an accidental death, Wecht said.
Meanwhile, the paternity of her now 5-month-old daughter remained a matter
of dispute.
She was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on Nov. 28, 1967, in Houston, one of six
children of Donald Eugene and Virgie Hart Hogan.
She married Bill Smith in 1985, giving birth to Daniel before divorcing two
years later.
