. >> reporter: i met anna nicole's mother, vergie arthur, back in 2007. >> she was beautiful as a child, >> reporter: was there any doubt that she was going to be a big sensation? >> oh, no. >> reporter: be so famous? >> no doubt. from the time she was 5 or 6, she was always saying, "when i grow up, mom, i am going to be a model." >> reporter: along the way, vicki lynn drops out of high school at 15 and takes a job at jim's krispy fried chicken. >> anna nicole smith had this remarkable backstory. a mom at the age of 19, married to a fry cook at the fried chicken place where she worked, mother to a son named daniel. >> daniel's my life, he's my inspiration. he's my everything. >> reporter: in 2000, the budding star tells abc her first marriage collapsed after a year, leaving her broke and alone to but, with stars in her eyes, she makes her way to houston, where she notices the burning bright lights in the texas sky. >> there was this big neon sign, it was blue and white. and it had this lady in high heel shoes and she had the bikini on and it would flash, tip-toe, then back, tip-toe, the