Vickie Lynn Marshall (November 28, 1967 - February 8, 2007), better known under the stage name of Anna Nicole Smith,was an American model and television personality. She first gained popularity in Playboy, becoming the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She modeled for clothing companies, including Guess jeans. She starred in her own reality TV show, The Anna Nicole Show.
Born and raised in Texas, Smith dropped out of high school and first married at the age of 17. Her highly publicized marriage to oil business executive and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior, resulted in speculation that she married the octogenarian for his money, which she denied. Following his death, she began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate; her case, Marshall v. Marshall, reached the U.S. Supreme Court on a question of federal jurisdiction. In the months before her death, she was the focus of renewed press coverage surrounding the death of her son, Daniel Smith.
Smith's career took off after she was chosen by Hugh Hefner to appear on the cover of the March 1992 issue of Playboy, where she is listed as Vickie Smith, wearing a low-cut evening gown. Smith said she planned to be "the next Marilyn Monroe".
Smith secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the Guess jeans ad campaign in a series of sultry black and white photographs. Guess capitalized on Smith's strong resemblance to sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and put her in Jayne-inspired photo sessions. In 1993, before Christmas, she modeled for the Swedish clothing company Hennes & Mauritz H&M. She was dressed in underwear and arranged in seductive poses. She appeared on big posters in Sweden and Norway.
While performing at Gigi's, a Houston strip club, in October 1991, Smith met elderly oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall and they began a relationship. During their two-year relationship, he reportedly lavished gifts on her and asked her to marry him several times. She divorced her husband Billy on February 3, 1993, in Houston.On June 27, 1994, Smith, 26, and Marshall, 89, married in Houston. This resulted in a great deal of gossip about her marrying him for his money. Though she reportedly never lived with him, Smith maintained that she loved her husband, and age did not matter to her. Thirteen months after his marriage to Smith, Marshall died on August 4, 1995, in Houston.
Smith was chosen to be the 1993 Playmate of the Year. By the time of her PMOY pictorial, she had settled on the name Anna Nicole Smith.
Becoming one of Playboy's most popular models, Smith was heavier and larger than the typical Playboy model.
Due to her support of the anti-fur movement, in particular her criticism of Canadian seal hunting, PETA began a petition in memory of Smith to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to end the annual tradition.
In another ad the following year, Smith posed with her dogs in a campaign against Iams dog food for their alleged cruelty to animals, as well as the manufacturer Proctor and Gamble, and sister company Eukanuba.
This handout image from Playboy, shows a cover of the Feb. 2001 issue of Playboy magazine, featuring Anna Nicole Smith.
Smith has also been featured in advertisements for the animal rights group PETA. Spoofing Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" segment in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a 2004 ad states "Gentlemen prefer fur-free blondes."
Smith announced on June 1, 2006, in a video clip posted on her official website that she was pregnant. "Let me stop all the rumors," she said, while floating on an inflatable raft in a swimming pool. "Yes, I am pregnant. I'm happy, I'm very, very happy about it. Everything's goin' really, really good and I'll be checking in and out periodically on the web, and I'll let you see me as I'm growing."
Though her announcement did not provide any details, in an interview with Larry King on CNN's Larry King Live after her daughter's birth and her son's death, Smith's longtime personal attorney Howard K. Stern said that he and Smith had been in a secret relationship for "a very long time" and due to the timing of the pregnancy, was confident that he was the father of the baby.
Her ex-boyfriend, entertainment photojournalist Larry Birkhead, steadfastly maintained that he was the baby's father and filed a lawsuit to establish paternity.
Smith's daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, was born September 7, 2006, at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. The Bahamian birth certificate recorded the father as Howard K. Stern.
A judge in the United States ordered that DNA tests be performed to determine the biological father of Dannielynn. Following Smith's death, Debra Opri, the lawyer for Larry Birkhead, asked for an emergency DNA sample to be taken from the corpse.
Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith, died on September 10, 2006 in his mother's hospital room while visiting her and his newborn sister. After the coroner labeled the death "reserved," Smith hired forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht to perform a second autopsy.
On September 28, 2006, Smith and Howard K. Stern exchanged vows and rings in an informal commitment ceremony aboard the 41-foot catamaran Margaritaville off the coast of the Bahamas.
On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in room 607 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. After Smith's death, various legal battles began regarding: the will, the paternity of her daughter, and her final resting place, which resulted in the delay of her burial. Smith was finally buried March 2, 2007 at Nassau's Lakeview Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum in a plot adjacent to her son, Daniel. Daniel's father reportedly wants his son exhumed and reburied in his home state of Texas.
THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE BLUES: A hand of a tourist at the Singapore Underwater World is seen reflected inside a fish tank on January 30. Following record visitor numbers, exceeding 10 million, into Singapore last year, the tourism sector is expected to continue to boom in 2008.
BRIDGE OF COLOUR: Rush-hour traffic is seen on the Bay Bridge as the sun sets over San Francisco on January 30.
OH RATS, I MEAN, FISH: Spotted Ratfish is seen swimming up to the surface of a tank at the Underwater World in Singapore on January 30. The Spotted Ratfish is considered to be a missing link between sharks and rats, and was brought into the city-state from Canada as a symbol to usher in the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rat.
COLOURS OF THE RAIN: A rainbow can be seen when looking west from Palm Springs, California, next to an array of wind turbines, on January 28.
STAR-GAZING: Stars are seen over the remains of Sapega's castle in the village of Ruzhany, 250 km south-west of Minsk, Belarus, in the late evening of January 28. This image was made with a long shutter-speed, causing stars to appear as white lines in the clear winter night sky, and highlighting the 18th Century decaying old walled structure.
YO ARNIE: Ali Sabah Talib, 18, a former bodybuilding champion, shows off his muscles in the office of the Arnold Gym in the centre of Baghdad, Iraq, on January 23. The gym is named after Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a former body-builder.
CHILD MARRIAGE: Wearing traditional dresses for a symbolic wedding two-year-olds, Darien (right) as groom and Leonie (left) as bride dance together as they celebrate the story of the 'Bird's Marriage' in Panschwitz, eastern Germany, on January 25. The children of the Sorbs, a German minority community located near the German-Polish border, thank birds, which, according to legend, give the children sweets in return for being fed during the winter. The costumes that the children wear are similar to the actual get-ups worn by Sorb brides and grooms.
MOUSING UP: A young girl dresses up as a mouse to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year, which is the Year of the Mouse in China this year, at an event in Hong Kong on January 24.
ALWAYS OUT OF REACH: Funny Path Car 9/11, a battery-operated toy which features US President George Bush riding a tank to capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is on display at a roadside toy vendor's store in Bangalore, on January 22.
THE ONLY TIME THEY'LL EVER MEET: Dolls made of elastic dough, from left, US President George Bush, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Chinese movie star Bruce Lee, are on display at a shop in Beijing, China, on January 25. 
HISTORIC MEETING: Fireworks light up the sky over the New York harbour as the Queen Mary 2 (right), the Queen Victoria (centre), and the Queen Elizabeth 2 cross paths near the Statue of Liberty in New York on January 13. The Queen Victoria is the newest of the Cunard ships and was only recently launched in England. It was the only time that the three Queen ships would ever meet.
A sunbathing tourist comes to the aid of 46 would-be immigrants on La Tejita Beach on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife after the boat they were in ran aground.
A large flock of sheep blocks a once landslide covered road in the mountains of the Kashmir region of Pakistan near the village Sharian September 23, 2006.
Palestinian gunmen, who identified themselves as members of the Islamic Jihad group, shoot a man in a public square in the West Bank town of Jenin Sunday August13, 2006.
A Jewish settler struggles with an Israeli security officer during clashes that erupted as authorities evacuated the West Bank settlement outpost of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah,
Muslim pilgrims pray at Jabal Al Rahma holy mountain, the mountain of forgiveness, in Arafat outside Mecca, Saudi Arabia early Monday, Jan. 9, 2006.
Palestinians enjoy a ride at an amusement park outside Gaza City, Sunday, March 26, 2006.
A young earthquake victim eats breakfast near his destroyed home at Bantul, Indonesia, Monday, May 29, 2006, in Bantul, Indonesia.