Anna Nicole Smith

Birthplace Houston, Texas
Birthdate November 28, 1967
Measurements 36" DD - 26" - 38"
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight 140 lb (64 kg)
Preceded by Cady Cantrell
Succeeded by Angela Melini
Playmate of the Year (PMOY) for 1993
PMOY preceded by Corinna Harney
PMOY succeeded by Jenny McCarthy

Vickie Lynn Marshall (born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967), better known as Anna Nicole Smith, is an American actress and model who first gained popularity as Playboy magazine's 1993 Playmate of the Year. Her career and public image subsequently suffered as her weight gain and bizarre antics were put on display in supermarket tabloids and in her short-lived reality television show. More recently, Smith slimmed down and became the spokesperson for a weight loss supplement.

Her highly publicized marriage to oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior, resulted in a lengthy and ongoing legal battle over his estate following his death. Her case, Marshall v. Marshall, reached the U.S. Supreme Court in February, 2006, on a narrow constitutional issue over the right of a federal judge to intervene in a state probate case. On May 1, 2006, Smith won the Supreme Court case 9-0, which boosts her chances of getting a larger share of her late husband's estate.

Early life

Anna Nicole Smith was born in Houston, Texas. When she was very young, her family moved to Mexia, Texas a small town 127 km (79 mi) south of Dallas. Her father left the family when Anna was a child and she was raised by her mother and aunt. While growing up, Anna told others that she wanted to be the next Marilyn Monroe. Smith worked at a fried chicken restaurant in her late teens, where she is rumored to have married an unidentified cook. In 1985, she married Billy Smith at the age of 17. That same year, she gave birth to her first child, Daniel Smith. In 1987, she divorced Billy and became a single mother.

Playboy and modelling career

Smith's career took off after appearing on the cover of the March 1992 issue Playboy magazine wearing a low-cut evening gown. She secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the Guess jeans ad campaign in a series of sultry black and white photographs. Smith then posed nude for Playboy as the May 1992 centerfold (under her given name). Tall, blonde, sexy and zaftig, Smith was subsequently called "the next Marilyn Monroe" in press reports, a comparison she encouraged by wearing a hair style reminiscent of Monroe's, as well as her trademark white dress. Smith was chosen to be the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She finally settled on the name "Anna Nicole Smith" by the time of her PMOY pictorial.

Reality Television

During the course of the litigation, Smith's career stalled. Though her roles in The Hudsucker Proxy and Naked Gun 33 1/3, both in 1994, were highly publicized, her acting career did not take off. She was instead relegated to low-budget softcore porn movies such as Skyscraper and became regular fodder for the tabloids due to her legal battle over her nonagenerian husband's estate, her increasing weight, and her reportedly bizarre behavior. In 2002, she was given her own reality TV series on the E! cable television network; The Anna Nicole Show which focused on her personal and private life in the manner of other "reality" shows, such as ratings hit The Osbournes. The show's debut was the highest rated show on the network, but critics blasted the show and ratings dropped with each successive week. However, the show achieved a kind of camp or cult status as many fans found humor in Smith's absurd antics. The show was cancelled in February 2004, due to "creative differences," but has retained some life in reruns and on DVD releases.