Anna Nicole Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan, and grew up in a small Texas town. As a young girl, she idolized Marilyn Monroe. She dropped out of school in 8th grade to work at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken Shack, and later cashiered at Wal-Mart. At 17, she met and married a fry cook, Billy Smith. They had a son, and soon after were divorced. The erstwhile Mrs. Smith began stripping at Rick's Cabaret, a tavern in Houston, where she performed as "Miss Nikki" and "Robin" before settling on "Anna Nicole" because it sounded classier. There she met billionaire Howard Marshall II, at 88 the richest old man in Texas. Smith later had breast augmentation surgery, and Marshall may have paid for it. Newly zaftig, she was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in May 1992, and Playmate of the Year for 1993. The Playboy fame landed Smith a new career, replacing Claudia Schiffer as the spokesmodel for Guess? jeans.
At 26, Smith and Marshall were married, but Marshall died just 14 months later, and his son, E. Pierce Marshall, was named sole beneficiary. Smith wasn't even mentioned in her husband's will. Pierce (who was twice his stepmother's age at the time, 56 to 28), said that his father had disinherited Smith because she had seemed more interested in shopping than fulfilling her wifely duties. Smith sued for half of her husband's estate, fueling endless tabloid coverage. One of Marshall's nurses testified that Smith rarely visited their home in his last months. His office manager said she had accumulated "monthly six-figure credit card bills. But Smith's lawyer, Howard K. Stern, argued that the love between Smith and the elder Marshall had been true and timeless. The court case lasted much longer than the marriage. One judge decided Smith deserved $475 million, but the family appealed and that verdict was reduced to $88.5 million. It was just a fraction of her husband's estimated $1.6 billion worth, but the family promised to appeal that payout as well, and for years Smith said she hadn't seen a dime.
In the mid-1990s, Smith had bit parts in The Naked Gun 33 1/3 and The Hudsucker Proxy. She followed that with leading roles in two low-budget cleavage flicks: To the Limit (with Smith as a CIA agent battling assassins) and SkyScraper (with Smith as a helicopter pilot battling terrorists). Smith's reality show, The Anna Nicole Show, debuted in 2002. Reviews were abysmal, but the show garnered modest if inexplicable popularity, and lasted two seasons. Even Smith said she wasn't sure why people were interested in her, but she said she hoped audiences would "start to take me seriously as an actress".
In October 2003 Smith became the spokesperson for TrimSpa, a product which, she says, helped her lose 30 pounds. In May 2004, she announced plans to launch her own line of fashion clothing. In September 2006, Smith gave birth to a daughter in Nassau, Bahamas; her 20-year-old son died inexplicably while visiting his mother at the maternity ward three days after the birth. Smith herself died in 2007, after collapsing at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino. Cause of death: Accident - Overdose
