Anna Nicole Smith, former model, reality-tv star and according to her, hieress to millions, died after being found unconscious in her Florida hotel room this afternoon, according to media reports. She was 39 years old.CNN reported that Smith's private nurse called Seminole Hard Rock Hotel workers at 1:38 p.m. today and security went to the room. Her body guard performed CPR as they waited for rescuers to arrive, according to reports. She was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood at 2:10 p.m. where she died, CNN said.
The story broke a short time later, when an AP news alert was issued at 3:51 p.m., EST, that said "HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) - A lawyer for Anna Nicole Smith says she has died." CNN and the entertainment Web site TMZ.com also said they received confirmation from Smith's attorney, Ron Rale.
Smith, a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a weight-loss aide, made tabloid headlines as she battled all the way to the Supreme Court for access to her late oil-baron husband's billion-plus dollar estate. At 26, Smith married the tycoon in 1994 when he was 89. Recently, her life took more bizzare twists that once again put her on the paparazzis' most-wanted lists.
The New York Times Notes on the News blog summed it up nicely: "Ms. Smith had weathered some difficult times of late, ... the (likely drug-related) death in September of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Wayne Smith, a pending paternity suit over her infant daughter, and just this week, being named in a class-action lawsuit against TrimSpa..."
UPDATE 1: The New York Times reports that there's likely to be a custody battle over her five-month old daughter and that a press conference scheduled this afternoon at the hospital where she dies was cancelled. CNN says the cancellation was at the request of the family, who wants all questions to be directed to their attorneys.
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Justin McLachlan, News Correspondent
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Comments: 13
I wonder if Anna Nicole, after her death, will now become extensively glamorized much like Marilyn Monroe when she died at a similarly young age?
Then her very own sister talks to Larry King tonight, hasn't seen her own sister for 10 years...and yet, she states that Howard Stern, is somehow responsable for her 2 family members being dead.....she stated that he should have done something to change Anna's life style! Well Sister..where were you..you were blood...why couln't you have done something to help her...at least, this man, Howard K Stern, stayed beside Anna through everything...He didn't walk away from her the way her wonderful family did.....
So I wish for Anna, that she is holding her son right now....And I wish her peace for the first time! Also, I hope that Howard Stern, is the father od Dannilyn, because I would hate to see him loose her too!
Anna Rest in Peace!
I'm told she actually had 2 breast surgeries in the past 5 months, and with all the weigh she's gained and lost in the past few years that's not a surprising fact... and might turn out to be a likely complicating factor in her death.
My question is...this lawyer guy who is one of 3 men claiming to be DannyLinns daddy, well, where was he? Why didn't he take any kind of care of his supposed lover and mother of his supposed child? Why didn't any of the thousands of people who have interviewed her in the recent past say anything to her about her addiction issues. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to see she couldn't even speak without slurring her words. She needed help and support from her loved ones. Where were they?
I'm sorry most for her poor little girl. What a shame!