All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S01E06_English

I grew up poor.
I had no money.

My family was poor.

There was things I wanted to do
and couldn't.

Just, there's tons of things
that I couldn't even mention,

and it is
a Cinderella story to me.

♪♪

♪♪

Hey, everyone, I'm Hill Harper.

Anna Nicole Smith, high school
dropout from a broken home,

a former stripper, a single mom,

but ultimately
a billionaire's wife

and an international superstar.

Anna Nicole Smith reached
larger-than-life fame,

but the mysteries
and contradictions of her stormy

up-and-down life turned her
into a tabloid obsession.

Build her up or tear her down.

Anna Nicole Smith was convinced
she wouldn't make it to 40,

and tragically,
she was right.

This is how it really happened.

King: Do you think there's
sort of, like, a cloud

that hangs over you?
Smith: Yes, a dark one.

A dark one?
Yeah.

How old are you now?

27.

Casarez: Anna Nicole Smith
really did live

the American dream,

but her life was like
a roller coaster.

We watched as she struggled,
and we rooted for her.

Banfield: She was
extraordinarily beautiful.

She was reminiscent
of Marilyn Monroe.

She was a cocktail
of a lot of interesting things.

Hilton: She harkened back
to a Jayne Mansfield

or a Marilyn Monroe,

and she brought glamour
to nude modeling.

Velez-Mitchell: She really
played up her Texas roots

in the 1993 "Playboy"
centerfold video.

Anna Nicole Smith,
Playmate of the Year.

What even led you
to the "Playboy"?

How did that come about?

Well, I was just about out
of going

to modeling agencies
and schools

because they would always
turn me down,

say I needed to darken
my hair, lose weight.

"Playboy" was, like,
my last chance

to really show myself,
I guess.

So how did you do that?

I showed myself.

Hilton: There were so many girls
that would pose for "Playboy."

None of them achieved the level
of success that Anna Nicole did.

So the C.E.O. of Guess Jeans
sees Anna Nicole Smith

on the cover of "Playboy"
and says, "I want her."

Hilton: There were billboards of
her all over the country,

and the photography
was beautiful,

and it really opened
a lot more doors for her,

and it legitimized her.

Atteu: I see somebody who loved
the camera,

jumped right out of the shot

and came right inside
your living room

to be able
to tell you a story.

♪♪

Anna Nicole had
a faulty foundation

and it comes into play.

Some of us are so flawed
that it's hard

to keep everything together.

♪♪

It was sometime
in the afternoon,

and reports started flooding
in that Anna Nicole Smith

was found unconscious
in her hotel room in Florida.

♪♪

[ Sirens wailing ]

Anderson: I was in my office
in Los Angeles at CNN,

and I remember getting the news
and just being stunned.

As the news reports continued
to come in

and more details
started coming in,

and then we hear
that she had died.

At 2:49 this afternoon, we were
advised by hospital personnel

that Anna Nicole Smith
had died.

But we went on the air
right away.

Wow, what a shocking
and unbelievable day.

Pat, let me start with you

when you heard this news,
what was your reaction?

We were just blown away here.

You know, A.J., it's kind
of a yin and a yang.

I was shocked and then I was
like, "I'm not surprised."

Anderson: This larger-than-life
personality had died.

I thought, "How can that be?
What has happened?"

This is CNN breaking news.

We begin right now, though,

with the passing
of Anna Nicole Smith.

She died this afternoon.

She was 39 years old.

Some late video, police removing
items from the rooms

at the Hard Rock Hotel
in Hollywood, Florida,

where she was staying with
a security guard and a nurse.

Casarez: When we learned she had
died in the hotel room,

we were all wondering,

"Well, there must be
foul play here."

Hilton:
After Anna Nicole Smith died,

a lot of people
had many questions,

"How did this happen?

Why did this happen?"

Anna Nicole's death was
surrounded by mystery and shock,

but that was really
how she led her life.

She was always surprising us.

We were always wondering,
"What's next with Anna Nicole?"

The death of Anna Nicole Smith,

it's the number-one story
around the world tonight.

John Zarrella, what's the mood
down there in Hollywood?

Where is the body now?

Zarrella: Well, the body now
has been taken

to the Broward County
medical examiner's office,

the coroner's office.

And sometime tomorrow,
we don't have a time yet,

they will begin the autopsy
on Anna Nicole Smith.

King:
Let's go back a little.

You had a tough background,
didn't you?

Um...

You were raised in a --

your parents divorced
shortly after you were born.

You never went beyond
the eighth grade.

It was a tough childhood.

I had a time,
tough time.

In Texas?
In Texas.

♪♪

So big, beautiful,
buxom Anna Nicole Smith

was actually born
Vickie Lynn Hogan in Texas.

She was raised without a dad
in a household

with five half siblings.

Her mother sent her away
to live with her aunt

when she was just 14 years old.

Velez-Mitchell: And that is one
of the most traumatic things

that can happen to a child,
to feel rejected.

So I think that's where
her big trauma began.

Hilton:
The cards were definitely

not stacked in her favor.

She was 18 years old in 1986

when she had her first
near-death drug overdose,

and this is according
to her sister

who wrote a book aptly titled
"Train Wreck."

Anna Nicole didn't make it
through high school.

She dropped out
and ultimately got a job

at a Jim's Krispy
chicken restaurant.

Velez-Mitchell: And she meets
Billy Smith,

who's the fry cook
at the chicken joint.

They begin dating.

They ultimately get married,
and the next year,

they have a son.

Anderson:
There's talk of turmoil
within the relationship.

They separated,
and she moved on.

Casarez: She moved to Houston,

and she took
baby Daniel with her.

She cared about
protecting her son.

That was her first
and foremost priority.

Casarez: The one person
in Anna Nicole's life

that meant more to her
than anyone was her son, Daniel.

He was born
when she was only 19,

so they really grew up together.

You have a picture
of your son...
I do.

...which you brought along.
Obviously, you're very proud.

Yes.
How old is he?

He's 7 years old,
and he's beautiful.

Velez-Mitchell: She headed
to the big city of Houston,

where she saw a sign
for a strip club and said,

"Hey, I can dance,"
and she became a stripper.

I tried working
at other places,

and I just, I couldn't --
I couldn't make ends meet.

I tried Red Lobster.

I tried Walmart.

I tried all these places,
and I couldn't make it.

I couldn't.

So I tried this
gentlemen's club.

At first, she didn't really know

what she was doing
as a stripper.

They gave her the bad hours,
and she was clumsy

and big-boned
and flat-chested.

And then another stripper
took her under her wing

and groomed her,

and she became
this incredible stripper,

and she learned
that art of seduction.

She gets the platinum blond hair
and the breast implants.

All of a sudden, she emerges
as the Anna Nicole Smith

the world came to know,
the bombshell.

Atteu: If she put on a nightie
and she wanted to seduce you,

within a second, she can turn
any gay man straight.

No questions.

Velez-Mitchell:
In March of '92,

she was on the cover
of "Playboy" magazine.

Now, apparently at first,
she was a little shy about it,

but she quickly got over it,
and by the next year,

she had been named "Playboy"
Playmate of the Year.

-Anna.
-Anna.

Anna, over here.

King: You sent them a picture
of yourself nude?

I sent four Polaroids
of me nude and --

They called
the next morning.

They called me
three days later.

Well, they flew me
to Los Angeles three days later.

-She's a gorgeous lady.
-Yes.

But there's also a special magic
about her

and that magic
is very much connected to,

I think, the fact that she looks

a lot like the glamour stars
of the '30s, '40s, and '50s.

Is Marilyn Monroe
your idol?
Yes, she is.

Why?
I don't know.

I just feel a connection there
with her.

I just -- I don't know.

I just love her.

♪♪

Anna Nicole was beautiful,
and she got great opportunities

with Guess and with H&M,
and those shots are --

they seem classic.

They seem timeless now.

Hilton:
She did a lot in the '90s.

She would constantly
make the rounds.

She was on talk shows.
She acted.

It was good being
Anna Nicole Smith.

I'll never forget seeing
Anna Nicole

in "Naked Gun 33 1/3."

What are you doing?

I'm, um, just contemplating
my next move.

Your bishop is exposed.

It's these pants.

I usually wear
a fuller cut.

You're all man.

I like that in my men.

You know what?
She was a cartoon character.

She was like Jessica Rabbit,
like,

just on the big screen,
like no other.

It really is somebody who seemed
to be in chronic emotional pain,

and no one
ever really helped her.

King:
With her life the way it was,

most assume some kind
of drug problem.

Would that be found quickly
if that were the cause?

Dr. Gupta: I think so.

I think that within a couple
of weeks,

there's gonna be some answer
as to what happened here,

whether it was a toxicology,
overdose-type situation

or whether it was something
that she had

a primary problem
with her heart.

Anderson: Anna Nicole met
this billionaire,

J. Howard Marshall,
when she was working

as an exotic dancer
in Houston.

King:
He was in the bar.

You were performing.

Smith: Right.

I went over and met him,

and he had asked me
to go to a lunch with him

the following day,
and I did,

and that was the last time
that I ever danced.

We've been together
for many years.

How much older was he?

He was -- I was 23,

I believe,
and he was 86.

♪♪

And he repeatedly asked her
to marry him,

and she says no over
and over again

for something like three years.

She said she wanted to make it
on her own, and she did.

Ultimately, she gave in.

She agreed to marry
J. Howard Marshall,

89 years old,
and she's 26.

Strange, yes.

Why did you
finally accept?

Because I promised him
that I would marry him

after I made something
of myself,

and I promised him,

and then
it was time to do something,

and I wanted
to have children.

You thought you owed it
to him.
I owed it to him.

I wanted kids, and it was time
to get married.

But he couldn't have
given you kids, could he?

We tried.
You did?

We tried,
but it didn't happen.

♪♪

Do I think Anna Nicole Smith
was a gold-digger

with J. Howard Marshall?

Of course, I do.
Come on.

Velez-Mitchell: What was
Anna Nicole Smith's motivation

in marrying
this billionaire?

She may have been a gold-digger
who wanted his fortune.

I'm one of those people who is
not instantly cynical

when you hear that billionaire
marries young woman.

Hey, listen, good for him.

Did you realize that
the public looked at this

as kind of,
like, gold-digger?

Yes, I did.

How did that
make you feel?

It made me feel very angry

because I wanted to make
a name for myself

so that wouldn't happen,

and it hit me
in the face anyway.

She told me he was the only one
that ever loved her truly

with an open heart and
never wanted anything from her.

I loved him for so much
what he did for me and my son.

I mean, I just loved him so --

I've never had love
like that before.

Anderson:
The next thing you know,

he soon fell ill
and died the next year.

♪♪

When he died,
how old was he?

He was 90.

What did he die of?

Pneumonia.

When Howard Marshall died,
Anna Nicole is now 28,

and she enters the Betty Ford,

and according
to "People" magazine,

she is addicted
to vicodin and alcohol.

There were reports
that you were addicted,

that you were in rehab.

Right, true.

But they say I was in there
for drugs,

but I was in there
for painkillers.

You took what?

You got addicted
to prescription painkillers?

I got addicted to pain pills
and also alcohol

when my husband was dying
and when he died.

♪♪

Banfield:
When Howard Marshall died,

in the probate meetings,

they read the will,
and Anna Nicole is not in it,

and neither is another
one of his sons.

So they both contested.

Reporter: Anna Nicole Smith came
back to Houston

armed with her legal team,
not saying much as she arrived.

Anderson: She claimed that
J. Howard Marshall

told her verbally
because it wasn't in the will,

but that he told her verbally

that he was going to give her
half his fortune,

and then ensued a court battle
with his son pierce Marshall.

Banfield: Well, that just began
decades of litigation,

the likes of which made it
all the way

to the United States
Supreme Court.

Reporter 2: Smith showed up
just after lunch

to sit through
the afternoon session.

I only want what my husband
wanted me to have.

Anderson:
Her claim has caused this case

to wind its way
through the courts for years

when one would think

that it wouldn't make it past
the first hearing.

Casarez: Throughout all of this,
the good times, the bad times,

the ups and the downs,

the one person that was
by her side was her son, Daniel.

He was her constant companion.

He was the light of her life.

Dr. Kapoor: Daniel was the focus
of her life,

was really her, you know,
one shining star

through all the heartbreak
she'd had in her life.

Simpson:
Daniel is a great kid.

Smart, really creative,
really fun.

He was Anna's rock.

Daniel is the one
that kept Anna grounded.

Atteu:
Daniel gave her the backbone

or the drive for her

to be able to do
everything that she did do.

She needed to medicate
in order for her

to be able to get
through the day, the night.

She never slept.

Welcome back
to "How It Really Happened."

Anna Nicole Smith was
a worldwide cult icon,

but her life was
a roller-coaster ride

of extreme highs and lows.

Anna would enter rehab
and get clean,

then go back
to abusing drugs.

She was slammed by the press
in one issue

only to be flattered
in the next,

and in the never-ending
court battles

over J. Howard Marshall's
estate,

some rulings awarded her
millions

only to be reversed on appeal.

But through all her struggles,
Anna Nicole Smith never quit.

She kept fighting back with
one special purpose in mind --

to make a better life
for her son.

King: Was Mr. Marshall
good to Daniel?

Smith: Absolutely.

So he was
a good stepfather?

Oh, absolutely.

And how did Daniel handle
all of this?

My life?

Yeah, your marriage
to the older man.

How did he deal with it?

He dealt with it
very well.

We've always
stuck together.

Hilton: Even though life
continually knocked her down,

she always found a way
to get back up.

And then she'd get knocked down
again, but she'd get back up.

♪♪

Anna Nicole's body definitely
transformed through her life.

Trendy:
She gained a lot of weight.

She was very reclusive
living in North Hollywood.

A lot of people were saying
very negative things about her.

She was, "If I'm gonna be
fat, I'm gonna be fat,

and I'm gonna own it
that I'm fat."

Casarez: Then she uses that
weight gain to help make money,

modeling for Lane Bryant.

Simpson: One thing she always
said to me is,

"It doesn't matter if they're
saying something good,

they're saying
something bad.

They're saying something."

Now, what are you
gonna do?

I understand
something is coming

that's gonna involve you.

Right.

I'm going to do
"The Anna Nicole Show."

What kind of show
is it gonna be?

All about me.

♪ Anna, Anna, Anna ♪

♪ Anna Nicole ♪

Velez-Mitchell:
Anna Nicole's reality show

debuts on E! in 2002,
and it's a stupendous hit.

Meow.

Chop!

Visually, she looked
very different.

I wanted to move because
the place I was in

was just, like,
a hellhole for me.

I really didn't like
the old house,

so I'm glad we moved out.

We were introduced
to her son, Daniel,

and a lot of the people
in her life at the time,

including one person
who would end up

being a very important
figure in her life,

her lawyer,
Howard K. Stern.

In time, he became her lawyer,
her companion.

I think there's no question
that a lot of people

tuned into Anna Nicole's
E! reality show

because they wanted to see

this kind of train wreck
going on.

It's very clear on that
reality show

that she is high as a kite
a good deal of the time.

I think it's like
a Mexican type.

-Yeah, like a --
-Like a cana bana?

Is that what you call it?

-Cabana?
-Cabana?

Cabana?

You kind of can't believe
that a person lives this life

and you just, for some reason,
want to see more and know more.

Woman: Anna, over here!

Trendy: She played the ditzy
blond with the red lips

for the cameras, I think.

However, behind closed doors
with Anna and myself,

she was always --
she knew what she wanted.

Casarez:
Then after a few years,

she decides to lose the weight,

completely transforms her body,
and then becomes a spokesperson

for the weight-loss supplement
TrimSpa.

Hilton:
She was having the last laugh,

making money and fluctuating
with her weight.

Casarez: We all saw that body
transformation

and that svelte figure at
the 2004 American Music Awards,

but we also saw an Anna Nicole
that seemed to be intoxicated.

When I saw the 2004 American
Music Awards, she saunters in.

She's strutting.

She's showing off her curves,

and then when she said,
"Like my body?"

[ Crowd cheering ]

Like my body?

[ Cheering continues ]

That was not a sober person.

I was honored to be in our
next performer's new video.

And if I ever record an album,

I want this guy to produce mine

and make me beautiful duets

because he's freaking genius.

Anderson: We were watching the
beginning of a downward spiral.

She was very erratic.

She seemed sloppy.

She seemed troubled.

There were signs of drug use.

Jane, what are you
expecting?

I would have to say that it
will probably be drug-related.

Good evening.
A sad day.

We begin on the phone
exclusively with Donna Hogan.

Donna is Anna Nicole's sister.

Can you say you were
totally shocked?

Hogan: Not really shocked

because of her lifestyle
and everything.

I mean, it's something
you don't wish to happen,

but, you know,
back of your mind,

you're knowing
someday it might.

Are you surmising then
it was drug-related?

That would be
my first guess.

Anna Nicole wasn't just
a train wreck.

I really feel that she had
a sweetness to her.

She had a big heart.

Another major person
in Anna Nicole's life

was Larry Birkhead.

He was from Kentucky,

working in Los Angeles
as a photographer.

They met in 2004 and had
a very intimate relationship.

Velez-Mitchell: It's around
Valentine's Day of 2006

that Anna Nicole Smith
reveals to Larry Birkhead

that she's pregnant
with his child,

and he's overjoyed.

Seidlin: Larry Birkhead,

I found,
to be a genuine individual

who loved Anna Nicole

and tried
to get her off of drugs.

Dr. Kapoor: She was on opiates
and she was pregnant,

so that gives you
a high-risk pregnancy.

Seidlin: She entered
Cedars-Sinai for detox,

for rehabilitation,

lets her Mother, Virgie, know,

and it's a mess.

Dr. Kapoor: I was, you know,
treating her as a patient

and worked with
the people at Cedars,

the doctors at Cedars
to iron out a plan

to have her have a healthy baby.

Seidlin: Larry is trying to talk
her into staying off of drugs,

and she doesn't want
to hear from that.

So she basically then
sends him away,

isolates herself

and continues to take drugs.

Velez-Mitchell:
Because of the conflict

between Anna Nicole
and Larry Birkhead,

all of a sudden, she decides,

"Oh, I don't want him
to be the daddy anymore."

She needed to leave
because of Larry Birkhead.

Seidlin:
Anna Nicole and Mr. Stern

go to the Bahamas
and she gives birth there.

Velez-Mitchell:
You put Howard K. Stern
on the birth certificate.

Voilà, he is the daddy of this
child you're about to have.

Seidlin: But Larry Birkhead

ran to the court in California
to say,

"I'm ready to do
a paternity test.

I'm the father."

Simpson:
I never told anybody this.

Anna came to me and said,
"You have blond hair.

You have blue eyes.

I want you to say you're
the father of the baby.

You put your name
on the birth certificate."

And I was going to.

We talked about it, and then
Howard broke the story

to Larry King.

So you are the father?

Yes, sir.

By the way, have there been
any DNA tests taken?

Is that --
Proud father.

What?

I said proud father.

Were DNA tests taken?

Based on the timing,
there really is no doubt

in either of our minds.

In 2006, while Anna Nicole
is pregnant,

she appears in a video
at her Bahamas home

during the ninth birthday party
of a girlfriend's daughter.

This video shot
by Howard K. Stern

shows Anna Nicole
very disoriented.

I have got to start
with this video

"Showbiz Tonight"
uncovered today.

It's absolutely disturbing
footage of Anna Nicole Smith

in clown makeup,
completely spaced out

at a child's
birthday party in 2006.

She can't figure out
if she's pregnant

or if she has gas.
Watch this.

Look how big my belly
is getting because it's gas.

It's your baby.

Nuh-unh.

It's gas.

It's your baby.

She's talking in a baby voice
like a tiny, little child.

My baby is over there.

Watch.

It's a battery baby.

Don't open her skin.

She was drugged.

She was drugged to the point
where she didn't

even know she was drugged.

Stern:
Is this a mushroom trip?
Huh?

Is this a mushroom trip?
Huh?

Is this a mushroom trip?

Obviously she was under the
influence of something then.

Casarez: Howard K. Stern says
Anna Nicole was pretending,

and she was just acting
in this video.

Simpson:
It was very sad to watch.

I was just like,
"Why wasn't I there?

Why couldn't I have been there
that day

so that wouldn't have happened?"

Reporter 3:
And on September 7th,

in a hospital
in the Bahamas,

Smith gave birth to a baby girl.

She gave birth to a healthy
little girl, Dannielynn.

Anderson:
She loved baby Dannielynn.

Yet she also was struggling

with prescription-drug abuse
at the same time.

So was she 100% present
as a mother

those first few months
of that baby's life?

It's hard to say.

That night that she gave birth,

her son, Danny, was flying in
to meet his new sister

and to be with his mother.

It was a reunion that lasted
a night,

and then the next day,
the horror set in.

Banfield:
And in that same hospital room

where Anna Nicole
has given birth,

brother Daniel overdoses
and dies.

He is found upright
in that hospital chair

in that hospital room.

It is a tragedy
of Shakespearean dimension.

King: Dr. Wecht, you performed
the autopsy on Daniel.

Daniel died of what?

Combined drug toxicity,
Larry --

methadone
and two antidepressants.

Stern: She's struggling
with her emotions.

It's been very rough,

and she said that she didn't
want to trade out children,

meaning she didn't want one
to be born and another to die.

Banfield: Anna Nicole loses

the most important thing
in her life,

the only thing

that she, by all accounts,
loved the most.

Hilton: She had an episode
in the funeral,

where she demanded
her son's casket be opened

and she said she wanted
to be buried with him.

Atteu: Deep in my heart,
I knew after Daniel had died

that my friend had gone.

I never saw the willingness
to want to live.

She did numb her pain
with drugs.

Velez-Mitchell:
The last days of her life

are really the final act
of a tragedy.

♪♪

Velez-Mitchell: Anna Nicole
Smith was clearly an addict

for virtually her whole life.

The last days of her life

are really the final act
of a tragedy.

February 5th for Anna Nicole
seemed pretty normal.

She was at a dance lesson,
so presumably,

she is healthy enough
to do that.

Anna Nicole Smith and her
entourage, Howard K. Stern

and Dr. Eroshevich,
leave the Bahamas.

They fly to Miami.

Banfield: She and
Howard K. Stern had a plan

to look at a yacht in Florida.

She is in a limo on the way

to the Seminole Hard Rock
Hotel and Casino

when she starts feeling chills.

By the time she gets
to the hotel lobby,

she is very wobbly to the point

where Howard K. Stern has to
help her cross the lobby.

Banfield: At about 7:30,

Anna Nicole
had a fever of about 105.

Extraordinary.

She took an ice bath.

She had a prescription for
Tamiflu and some antibiotics,

some chloral hydrate.

Casarez:
Chloral hydrate is a sedative

and a hypnotic
pharmaceutical drug

and can be used
to fight insomnia,

but at higher doses,
it also depresses respiration

and even blood pressure.

A temperature of 105 degrees

in an adult
is a medical emergency.

I mean, she should've been
transported right away.

But she refused to go
to the hospital

or have her friends call 911.

♪♪

Banfield: February 6th,

Anna Nicole spent just
about the entire day in bed

watching television
and trying to recover.

Velez-Mitchell:
Then she proceeds

not only to take
chloral hydrate,

but to take four
other medications.

I mean, this is a knockout drug.

You can't just keep taking it.

♪♪

Banfield: On February 7th, Anna
Nicole had her first meal

of the day around noon,

but in the middle of the day,
something went wrong.

Velez-Mitchell: She finds
herself naked in the bathtub,

but there's no water
in the bathtub.

And she seemed very confused.

To me, that says she is
completely drug-addled

at that moment in time.

Banfield: Sounding like
a broken record here,

but she again
took chloral hydrate.

February 8th.

This is the last day
of Anna Nicole's life.

She wakes up, but she
complains about fatigue,

and Howard K. Stern

reportedly took her
to the bathroom,

got her back into bed,
said he didn't notice

that she had taken any drugs
at that time, but then he left.

Velez-Mitchell:
At about 1:00, Tazma,

the wife of Big Moe, who is Anna
Nicole Smith's bodyguard,

goes in and sees
Anna Nicole unresponsive.

She does not call 911.

She proceeds to administer CPR
and call her husband.

Big Moe: And when I saw her,
her lips didn't look right.

They looked kind of pale
and blue.

So I slapped her on the face,
tried to wake her up.

Stern: I got a call from Moe
that something was wrong

and that he was
gonna call 911.

[ Siren wailing ]

Banfield: The paramedics got
to her hotel room

at 1:46 in the afternoon.

They must have worked on her

for quite some time
in that hotel room

because it was almost
an entire hour later

that she was taken
to the hospital by ambulance.

[ Siren wailing ]

I didn't know
what was going on,

and when they finally let me
go to the hospital,

right when I got there is when
I learned that she had died.

And then they let me go in
to spend some time with her

and get a priest
to give her her last rites.

This is CNN breaking news.

We're bringing you the latest
on this developing story,

the news about
Anna Nicole Smith, 39 years old.

All of a sudden,
within the past few minutes,

we have now confirmed here
at CNN that she has died.

She was rushed to a hospital
in Hollywood, Florida,

and only moments ago,
we did confirm that she is dead.

Anna was my world.
You know, I worshipped her.

I worshipped her.

To me, her happiness was
more important than my own.

Atteu:
I'm never gonna see her again.

I miss her.

I miss her every single day.

Simpson: We had a conversation
one time in the Bahamas,

and she looked at me
and she said,

"I'm not gonna --
I'm not gonna make it to 40."

Anna Nicole was only
39 years old,

and so the speculation was,

"What happened?
Why did she die?"

Well, after six weeks,

we finally found out
the sad truth.

We are convinced based
on the extensive review

of the evidence that this case
is an accidental overdose.

Our initial determination
was that most likely the death

is due to some medication
or drug toxicity,

with chloral hydrate
being the major component.

The other large,
looming issue was,

"Who is the father
of Dannielynn?"

Reporter 4: Two men,

Howard K. Stern
and Larry Birkhead,

both tell CNN
they are the baby's daddy.

So you are the father?

Yes, sir.

King: Okay.
What do you make of that?

Well,
it's just one big lie.

Hammer: Who is the father
of Anna Nicole Smith's baby?

I mean, this became
a national pastime.

It could have been a game show.

Seidlin: Who was the father?
Who's the daddy?

Was it Larry Birkhead?

Was it Howard Stern?

I had prisoners in jail
writing me letters

that they're the father.

Every meatball on the street

was telling me
that they're the father.

Reporter 5:
Prince Frederick von Anhalt,

husband of actress
Zsa Zsa Gabor, claimed today

that he had a 10-year affair
with Smith,

suggesting he might be
the baby's daddy.

There are lots of people
who could be the father.

-Could you be the father?
-I don't know.

I mean, you know,
sometimes I'm a bad boy.

Yeah.

Frantic frenzy over who's
the daddy finally came to an end

and it was all
a matter of science.

A DNA expert confirmed
Larry Birkhead

is the father of Dannielynn,

the 6-month-old child
of Anna Nicole Smith.

Birkhead came out of the
courthouse and played the crowd.

I hate to be the one that told
you this, but I told you so.

[ Cheers and applause ]

Thank you very much.

You know, it's all up
in the air.

Nothing's really determined
except parentage,

and I'm the father, and my baby
is gonna be coming home

pretty soon, so...

♪♪

Hammer: Hopefully, a big part of
her legacy will be Dannielynn.

Anna Nicole would be
very happy

that her daughter
is being loved by her dad.

♪♪

Trendy: I feel Anna's legacy
should be

you can be anyone you want,

no matter where you came from.

If I could do one thing
as Anna's best friend,

that would be to let everybody
know that she adored her fans.

She absolutely lived
for her fans.

Such an amazing person.

Atteu: I'm just so sorry
that so many other people

missed the opportunity
to be able get to know

her the way I did.

Anna Nicole's legacy...

I think she is an icon.

She's an icon for all people
that are in mid-America

with aspirations that are bigger
than what they believe.

I've just always
felt something,

felt that I could do something
with myself,

and I just wanted
to try.

And you're gonna
see me more.

Perhaps Anna Nicole Smith
should be remembered best

for having fought
the good fight,

by making it to the top
despite so many setbacks.

When Anna got knocked down,
she got right back up.

Anna Nicole Smith was
larger-than-life at her peak,

but in the end,
the tragic death of her son

was too much to overcome.

Thanks for watching, everyone.
Good night.