Birth place : Houston, Texas
Date of birth : November 28, 1967
Date of death : February 8, 2007 (aged 39)
Measurements : 97-66-97 (cm) 36-26-38 (inch)
Height : 5' 11" (1.80m)
Weight : 160 lb (73 kg/11 st)
BIOGRAPHY
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 second 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.
Early life
Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Houston, Texas, Anna Nicole was the only child of Donald Eugene Hogan (born July 12, 1947) and Virgie Mae (née Tabers; born July 12, 1951), who married on February 22, 1967. Her father then left the family; he and Virgie divorced on November 4, 1969. Virgie's oldest child, Anna Nicole's half-brother, is David Luther Tacker, Jr. (born 1966). Anna Nicole was raised by her mother and aunt, Elaine (Todd) Tabers, wife of Virgie's brother, Melvin Tabers.
Virgie, who worked as a law enforcement officer in Houston for 28 years, subsequently married Donald R. Hart in 1971. Their child was Donald Ray Hart, Jr. (born 1972). After Virgie married Donald Hart, Anna Nicole changed her name from Vickie Hogan to Nikki Hart. Virgie and Donald Hart divorced in 1983. Virgie then married Joe D. Thompson (1987, divorced 1991), James T. Sanders (1996, died 1996), and James H. Arthur (2000).
Anna Nicole's father Donald married Wanda Faye Atkinson in 1970 and had the following children: Donna Hogan (born 1971), Donald Ray Hogan (born 1973), and Amy Hogan (born 1975). Donald and Wanda were divorced in 1978. Donald married Carolyn S. Vandver in 1996.
Anna Nicole attended Durkee Elementary School and Aldine Intermediate School in Houston. When she was in the 9th grade, she was sent to live with her mother's younger sister, Kay Beall, in Mexia, Texas. At Mexia High School, Anna Nicole failed her freshman year and later quit school during her sophomore year.
While working as a waitress at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Anna Nicole met Billy Wayne Smith, who was a cook at the restaurant. The couple married April 4, 1985; she was 17 and he was 16. The next year, she gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne Smith. She and Billy separated in 1987 and she moved to Houston with one-year-old Daniel. They were officially divorced February 3, 1993, in Houston.
Initially, Anna Nicole found employment at Wal-Mart, then as a waitress at Red Lobster. She then became an exotic dancer, and in 1991, began taking modeling and voice lessons. In October of that year, she saw an ad in the newspaper to audition for Playboy magazine.
Playboy and modeling career
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".] Becoming one of Playboy's most popular models, Smith was heavier and larger than the typical Playboy model.] 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.
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.
A photograph of Smith was used by New York magazine on the cover of its August 22, 1994 issue titled White Trash Nation. In the photo, she appears squatting in a short skirt and cowboy boots as she eats chips. In October 1994, Smith's lawyer initiated a $5,000,000 lawsuit against the magazine claiming unauthorized use of her photo and that the article had damaged her reputation. Her lawyer said that Smith was told she was being photographed to embody the "all-American-woman look", and that they wanted glamor shots. He further stated that the picture used was taken for fun during a break.
