tv Nightline ABC February 6, 2021 12:37am-1:06am PST
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♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, anna nicole smith. behind the sex, fame, and prescription drugs, how heartbreaking loss took a devastating turn. now the new interview with the former lover. >> next thing i know, i've got any bags packed and i'm moving in with her. >> one daughter's journey on a path to learn about the mother she never knew. uncovering the path from playboy to high-profile marriage to being in the middle of a paternity suit. >> my life is like the living soap opera. dry, distressed skin that struggles? new aveeno® restorative skin therapy.
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♪ good evening and thank you for joining us. i'm janai norman. the world knew anna nicole smith as a larger than life sex symbol gracing the covers of "playboy" and fashion campaigns. now the side that few have ever seen with her daughter now on a search to understand the storied life of a parent she never met.
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>> i think she wanted somebody that she could raise as her own, and maybe get back what she didn't have. >> something she longed for, something she wanted. >> and jamie lynn came, and that was her dream. >> only five months later, anna nicole was dead. >> she left behind a man who loved her and a daughter she never got to see grow up. >> i have to paint a picture for dani lynn of who her mom was. we are headed to a little town called mejea, texas. i thought, why not go back to anna's beginnings and see where anna got her start? >> anna nicole and i were best friends. >> oh my goodness. you are your mommy. you look just like her. >> anna nicole's birth name was vicki lynn hogan. she lived in houston but she did have problems in houston. >> she was in an abusive situation.
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she was sexually abused and physically abused. that's what she told me. and that's what she would cry about. i wasn't there, but i believe her. >> she is sent to mexia, this tiny, dusty town, to live with her aunt kay and cousins. >> this is crispy's. so i was working here. and she would come in every day. >> she gets pretty sweet on the guy who runs the fry-o-later, billy smith. not much longer, billy smith marries vicki, makes her vicki smith. >> she had her son when she was 18. >> i thought, well, if i have a baby, i'll never be lonely again. i had my son, and i'm not lonely, and i love him, and he's great and wonderful. >> vicki leaves her husband and
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decides to move back to houston. >> so what she does is walk into a gentleman's club and ask if she can get a job. >> the day that i went on to dance the first time, i ran out, because i was so horrified and so ashamed of myself. but when i was driving to work, i looked down and saw all this money in my -- and i was like, wow. >> the irony is that when she started out, anna nicole was in her own words flat chested. >> and so she begins saving money, and now begins to engage in a series of breast augmentation procedures. >> believe it or not, as good as she was at dancing, she never felt comfortable with it. >> so it's 1991 and vicki's been dancing for four years. when an unlikely figure is wheeled in the front door. he is jay howard marshal ii. >> yale educated, works in the
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roosevelt administration on oil projects, eventually becomes associated with the famous koch brothers, turns them into a billionaire. >> got a little twinkle in his eyes, asked me to dance for him, and i did. he was very funny. very brilliant. very smart. he had so many stories. an amazing man. just really amazing. >> they would phone call every day and talk to each other. they were so cute on the phone. she would call him sugar and sweetheart and all that. they needed each other in more of a sense than people understood. >> so within a week of meeting vicki, marshall proposes marriage. she says no. >> so at the time, even while she's engaged in this elaborate courtship with jay howard marshall ii, she has a boyfriend. he takes a few pictures of her and sends them to a photographer, manager, scout for "playboy." >> she came in, i was quite
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taken, she looked like an amazon woman to me. anna nicole smith was the sweetest girl you would ever want to meet. sent the film off. the very next day "playboy" called and said, this girl's going to be a playmate. >> she appears on the cover of "playboy" in march of 1990. it is a life-changing event because paul marciano, who runs guess jeans, sees her fort toes. marciano thinks vicki needs a new name. together they come up with anna nicole smith. >> that first day shooting for guess makes anna nicole smith a worldwide star. >> people have a perception that she was this dumb blond. she wasn't, not at all. she could do anything that she wanted to do. >> what she decides to do after four years of turning down his proposals is to marry jay howard marshall. >> and she loved this man. she would sit close to him with her legs on the couch over him.
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and he would laugh. about six months after they got married, mr. marshall got very sick. >> so enter his son pierce. who gets the guardianship of his father. >> the son decided, i'm going to revoke anna's allowance, i'm going to stop paying her bills. and at one point, she was only permitted to see her husband for 30 minutes a day. >> when your husband's got his arms around, going like this this this -- >> 14 months after their wedding he dies. >> massive fortune? estimates range up to $1.6 billion. however, he leaves nothing his will to his wife, anna nicole smith, or her son, daniel. >> pierce gets everything. anna nicole decides to sue pierce in texas for her share of
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the estate. >> in this journal entry, anna writes, me and daniel have no money to live on because of the press and getting no work. >> on top of her career problems, she's also having problems with her implants. >> she's got migraines, stomach problems, brett implants causing back pains, she's got seizures. she's taking methadone for pain, klonopin for seizures. she's taking a lot of medication. and not much money coming in. anna nicole declares bankruptcy. >> the california federal bankruptcy judge finds pierce was conspiring with his lawyer and his accountant to cheat anna out of her portion of the inheritance. >> los angeles federal court awarded smith almost $450 million of her husband, jay howard marshall's estate. >> she has to do battle with his son in a different court in texas. and she could lose it all. >> you're saying being called a gold digger was your worst fear
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and you did everything the other way around to make sure that would not happen? >> right. >> and instead, what happened? >> it happened. >> they didn't for once consider that maybe this was an interesting notion of two people who they're making a transaction here are both lonely and find each other's company not only enjoyable, but have a modicum of love for one another. >> this is a pretty incredible story from beginning to end, isn't it? >> it truly is. >> it's your life. >> my life. my life is like the living soap opera. >> a jury in houston says former playboy playmate anna nicole smith is not entitled to one red cent from her late husband's multimillion-dollar estate. >> reporter: years of appeals and litigation ahead. in the meantime, anna still needs to keep working to pay the bills. she makes a decision that could be the best or worst career move she's ever made. >> quit following me! >> she says yes to a reality show.
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♪ eeny meeny miney moe -- here comes anna nicole smith into this brave world of celebrity reality television. the show was canceled before the third season really got under way. as she makes her way back on the scene, she meets the next man in her life, larry birkhead. >> the first time that i ever encountered anna was in my hometown of louisville, kentucky, working as a photographer at the kentucky derby. next thing i know, i've got my bags packed and i'm on the way out to anna nicole's house
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moving in with her. anna lived in the house with son daniel, assistant kim, attorney howard k. stern. he was kind of her publicist, agent, go-to person for anna nicole. >> did you see evidence of drug use and alcohol use? did she have a problem? >> i saw -- i saw a lot of things i didn't like. never once in my relationship with anna did i see her do any kind of illegal drug. i will say that she sometimes did not take the medication as she was prescribed the medication. the night before the american music awards was the first time i ever saw anna have a seizure. >> i was honored to be on our next performer's new video -- >> anna nicole's wild night at the american music awards. >> in the midst of all this strange and bad press comes the announcement that her long have time court battle for her
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elderly husband's estate is going to the supreme court. there was no end to her court battles. she was in litigation continuously, for 11 years. >> it was affecting her tremendously. ruining her mental health and her physical health. >> she always said she wanted a little girl. and i remember we were laying in the bed, she had a big, glowing smile on. she brings out the pregnancy test, she shows me she's pregnant. i was being a little vocal about medication she was taking, making sure everything was done right. >> she told me she was pregnant, larry was the father. i don't know how it got to where it got. >> she was told that he was only after her money, which is a laugh, and that he was a nobody.
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>> she started changing her tone. you're not the father, leave me alone. and then the next thing i know, she's gone. she's taken off to the bahamas. >> september 7, 2006. that's the day she gives birth to her daughter. and at her side is howard k. stern. >> daniel flies down to meet up with his mom and baby sister. in the hospital room -- >> on the night of september 9th, daniel sleeps over in her hospital room in the bahamas. it's unimaginable turn of events. >> the body of smith's 20-year-old son, daniel smith, was found three days after anna nicole gave birth to a baby girl in the bahamas. >> how can you die in a hospital bed? with nobody noticing? >> it broke her heart. when he died. and i think that was the final
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straw for anna nicole. >> to help her through her grief, anna's friend, dr. christine eroshevich, flies down to the bahamas. she happens to be a psychiatrist who has the authority to write prescriptions. and she writes a lot of prescriptions. >> dr. aeroshevich writes a new prescription to help anna sleep. >> choral hydrate. anna, instead of taking the prescribed dose, would sometimes pick up the bottle and chug it. >> anna nicole is completely devastated by the loss of her son daniel. but there's kind of a bright spot. >> anna had a whole support group, and that worked out very
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well. >> she stops talking about wanting to die and starts thinking about the future. >> howard finds a boat for them to buy in florida, so he and anna go to pick it up. before she leaves the bahamas, anna gets a shot of hgh and b12 on her left side. she's been doing this for awhile, to maintain her weight. >> by the time she gets to the hotel, she's starting to feel really sick. she has a fever of 105. >> 105 fever for an adult is deadly. everyone in the entourage, they're all telling her she should go to the hospital. and anna says no, she's not going to the hospital. and here's the thing. they actually listen to her. >> the fact that someone didn't take her to the hospital was really no surprise to me, because she was scared the press would find out she was there, then it would take into some big headline. she didn't want any of that. >> i walked over and realized she wasn't breathing.
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>> what's your emergency? >> this is seminole police, she's not breathing, she's not responsive. she's actually anna nicole smith. >> howard is calling dr. eroshevich, who confirms anna was on 10 different medications, all of which eroshevich prescribed. and some were not written in anna's name. meanwhile, the paramedics are still working on anna. >> and i could tale her big giving me a hug, then she was gone. >> at 2:49 this afternoon, we were advised by hospital personnel that anna nicole smith had died. >> she had nine drugs in her the sb1 and rom wrehe got >> it also showed a diagnosis of hashimoto's disease, an a autoimmune disease that affects
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the thyroid. symptoms are weight gain, fatigue, depression. >> all the things she'd been struggling with all her life had a diagnosis, but she'd never received it in life. in 2009, howard k. stern and dr. eroshevich were charged and convicted of two counts of conspiracy to obtain drugs for anna nicole smith under false names. in 2011, a judge found they were only trying to protect anna's privacy and dismissed the two convictions against stern. >> what happened today was vindication for both me and for anna. >> asarosa vich, judge dismissed one of the charges and reduced thor on, for obtaining one vicodin prescription under a false name. >> anna leaves behind an estate worth almost $700, which dani lynn will get. howard k. stern is the executor.
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>> i told you so. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is what's left of anna. dani, she has a big heart like her mom had, and i think she could appreciate these things. do you know what this even is? this is stuff that i've had for you for a long time. you want to see it? all right, okay, cool. this was a blondie t-shirt. we went on a date. who's that cool guy? >> please stop.
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i already told you before, please stop. >> this. there you are with your mommy. that is pictures of your ultrasound. anna got to live her dream. she wanted to be a star, she wanted to be a mother, and dannielynn is her legacy. that's what lives on from anna. >> and we'll be right back. he t, people like geico because it's just easy. bundling for example. you've got car insurance here. and home insurance here. why not... schuuuuzp.. put them together. save even more. some things are just better together, aren't they? like tea and crumpets. but you wouldn't bundle just anything. like, say... a porcupine in a balloon factory. no. that'd be a mess. i mean for starters, porcupines are famously no good in a team setting. geico. save even more when bundle home and car insurance. [♪] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. geico. save even more try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically shown
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