Anna Nicole Smith (born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967) is a American model and actress who first gained popularity when modeling nude for Playboy.

Early life

Anna Nicole Smith was born in Mexia, Texas, a city 127 km (79 mi) south of Dallas. After her father abandoned her, Smith was raised by her mother and aunt. As she was growing up, she has said she wanted to be the next Marilyn Monroe. Smith worked at a fried chicken restaurant in her late teens, where she is rumored to have married an unidentified cook. In 1985, she married Billy Smith at the age of 17. The same year, she gave birth to her son Daniel. In 1987, she divorced Billy and became a single mother.

In her early 20s, Smith worked at a variety of low-paying jobs while supporting her son Daniel. While working as an exotic dancer under various names including Nikki, Robin and Anna Nicole, she met oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall, a frequent customer of the strip club. With Marshall's money, Smith had cosmetic surgery to increase her breast size.

Playboy and modelling career

In 1991, Smith won a contest to appear on the cover of Playboy magazine; Smith was consequently featured on the cover of the March 1992 issue of Playboy as "Vickie Smith," wearing a low-cut evening gown.

The cover appearance secured her a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the Guess? jeans ad campaign, in a series of sultry black and white photographs. Smith then posed nude for Playboy as the May, 1992 centerfold. Tall, blonde, and full-figured, Smith was subsequently called "the next Marilyn Monroe" in press reports, a comparison she encouraged by wearing a hair style reminiscent of Monroe's, as well as her trademark white dress. Smith was chosen to be the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She finally settled on the name "Anna Nicole Smith" by the time of her PMOY pictorial.

Second marriage and estate litigation

Smith and the billionaire Marshall were finally married on June 27, 1994. She was 26 at the time, and Marshall was 89.

By some accounts, Anna Nicole had other relationships during this period and was generally indifferent to Marshall, with whom she never lived. Smith's alleged romantic interests included bodybuilder Clay Spires, actor Scott Baio, actor Rikki Lee Travolta, real estate mogul Jonathan McManus, Maria Antonia Cerrato, and Sandi Powledge.

Within weeks after J. Howard's death on August 4, 1995, Smith squared off against his son, E. Pierce Marshall, for half of her late husband's $1.6 billion estate. Although her late husband was, according to his employees, crazy about her, he did not include her in his trust and will, which he updated weeks after their marriage. Smith claimed J. Howard verbally promised her half of his estate if she married him. In September, 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134. Pierce appealed, and in July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood vacated that award and ordered Anna Nicole to pay over $1 million in fees and expenses to Pierce's legal team. In March 2002, she was awarded $88 million. In December 2004, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the March 2002 decision, saying that Smith is not one of J. Howard Marshall's heirs. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in September of 2005 to hear the appeal of that decision. The Bush Administration subsequently directed the Solicitor General to intercede on Smith's behalf out of an interest to protect federal court jurisdiction in state probate disputes.

Reality Television

During the course of the litigation, Smith's career stalled. Though her roles in The Hudsucker Proxy and Naked Gun 33 1/3, both in 1994, were highly publicized, her acting career did not take off. She was instead relegated to low-budget, attrociously acted softcore porn movies such as Skyscraper and became regular fodder for the tabloids due to her legal battle over her nonagenerian husband's estate, her increasing weight, and her reportedly bizarre behavior. In 2002, she was given her own reality TV series on the E! cable television network; The Anna Nicole Show focused on her personal and private life in the manner of other "reality" shows like ratings hit The Osbournes. The show's debut was a the highest rated show on the network, and then ratings dropped with each successive week. Critics blasted it, saying it was so bad it deserved to be pitied. However, it achieved a kind of camp or cult status as many fans found humor in Smith's absurd and arguably stupid antics. The show was cancelled in February 2004, due to "creative differences," but has retained some life in reruns and on DVD releases.

Smith as spokesperson

In an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien she was asked what her "Playmate diet" consisted of. She instantly replied, "fried chicken." In October, 2003, she became a spokesperson for TrimSpa, which helped her to lose a reported 69 pounds (31 kg).

In November 2004, she appeared as a presenter at the American Music Awards and garnered attention because of her strange behavior. During her live appearance, she made cryptic, murmured comments about her body and TrimSpa. This incident would later become comedic material for the rest of the presenters and became part of the news the next day. Tabloids speculated that she was under the influence of pills or another controlled substance. Her representatives explained that she was in pain due to a series of grueling work-outs and could hardly read the prompter because she is nearsighted and allegedly was not wearing her contact lenses.

In March 2005, at the first MTV Australia Video Music Awards in Sydney's Luna Park, she spoofed Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction by pulling down her dress to reveal both breasts, each covered with the MTV logo.

She has also featured in advertisements for the animal-rights group PETA, where she says, "Fur free blondes are best."

Filmography

• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
• Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
• To the Limit (1995)
• Skyscraper ([1997)
• Wasabi Tuna (2003)
• Be Cool (2005) (Cameo)
• Illegal Aliens Attack! (2005) (short subject)

Her appearances in Playboy Special Editions

• Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 9 June 1993 - cover.
• Playboy's Nudes December 1993 - page 4.
• Playboy's Bathing Beauties March 1994 - Stephen Wayda, page 5.
• Playboy's Wet & Wild Playmates September 1994 - pages 6-7.
• Playboy's Nudes November 1994.
• Playboy's Supermodels February 1995.
• Playboy's Nude Celebrities June 1995.
• Playboy's Playmate Tests November 1998.
• Playboy's Celebrating Centerfolds Vol. 1 December 1998 - pages 48-49.
• Playboy's Sexy 100 February 2003 - cover.