A life of celebrity and tribulations

LONDON

Smith was known as much for her sometimes-turbulent life off-camera as she was for her show-business endeavors. (Smith rose to fame after dropping out of school).

The former topless dancer in Houston, Texas, made her first appearance in Playboy in 1992, was named Playmate of the Year in 1993, and appeared in Guess jeans ads and movies.
In 2002, Smith launched a reality television program, "The Anna Nicole Show," on the E! Entertainment network. At one point, it was the network's highest-rated program.

She shocked many in 1994 by marrying 89-year-old Texas oil magnate Howard Marshall II, who had an estate valued at $1.6 billion. He died the next year, and until her death Smith waged a legal battle over the inheritance that included a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"It's way too early for me to even guess what's going to happen in terms of other claims on behalf of the child," said Rusty Hardin, a Houston attorney who represents the Marshall family.
Earlier this week, Smith was included in a class-action lawsuit against a company, TrimSpa, for which she had worked as a spokesperson.

TrimSpa makes a product it claims leads to substantial weight loss. The lawsuit alleges the marketing of the product, TrimSpa X32, was false or misleading.

Smith also was embroiled in a dispute over the paternity of Dannielynn Hope.
Larry Birkhead, an entertainment reporter and photographer who has claimed to be Dannielynn's father, will be filing an emergency order to obtain DNA samples to determine paternity, his attorney, Debra Opri, told CNN.

Smith and Stern have both said that Stern is Dannielynn's father. Stern has said the couple planned to marry, but it was unclear whether they had.
Rale said he would be in court to oppose the DNA order. A hearing is set for 8:30 a.m.
"On the instructions of the experts, we had to move in for a DNA order tomorrow morning, and we're going in for that," Opri said.

On news of Smith's death, Opri said Birkhead was "inconsolable ... he has lost the mother of his child and he has lost a woman he loved very much."