Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith [Source 1] (born Vickie Lynn Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007) was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith first gained popularity in Playboy, winning the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She modeled for fashion companies including Guess, H&M, Heatherette, and Lane Bryant.
Smith dropped out of high school and was married three years later in 1985. Her highly publicized second marriage to J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she married the octogenarian mainly for his money, which she denied. Following Marshall's death, Smith 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, and again on a question of bankruptcy court authority (now called Stern v. Marshall). Smith died on February 8, 2007 in a Hollywood, Florida, hotel room as a result of an overdose of prescription drugs. During the final six months of her life, Smith was the focus of renewed press coverage surrounding the death of her son, Daniel, and the paternity and custody battle over her newborn daughter, Dannielynn.
- Anna Ncole Smith
Residency in the Bahamas
Smith and Stern were reportedly staying in The Bahamas to avoid paternity testing of her daughter in the United States. In late 2006, Smith was granted permanent resident status in the Bahamas by Immigration Minister Shane Gibson. On February 11, 2007, newspaper photographs were published showing Smith lying clothed in bed in an embrace with Gibson. Opposition politicians in the Bahamas accused the minister of improper behavior. Gibson resigned as a result of the controversy and claimed that the photos, taken by Stern, were innocent.
The basis of Smith's permanent residency status was the claim that she owned a $900,000 mansion, which she said was given to her by a former boyfriend, real estate developer Gaither Ben Thompson of South Carolina. Thompson asserted that he loaned Smith the finances to purchase the property, but that she failed to repay the loan, and was attempting to regain control of the property. Thompson sued to evict Smith from the property in Bahama Court, and received a default judgment against her when she failed to respond to the eviction, or appear in court on November 28, 2006. Ford Shelley, son-in-law of G. Ben Thompson, claimed that methadone was found in Anna's bedroom refrigerator while the mansion was being reclaimed. A photograph provided by TMZ shows a large bottle of methadone along with vials of injectable vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) in her refrigerator and diet product Slimfast.[
Death and funeral
On February 8, 2007, Smith was found dead in room 607 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Tasma Brighthaupt, a friend of Smith who was a trained emergency nurse, performed CPR for 15 minutes until her husband, Maurice "Big Moe" Brighthaupt, Smith's friend and bodyguard, took over CPR. He had driven back to the hotel after being notified by his wife of Smith's condition. According to Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger, at 1:38 p.m. (EST) Maurice Brighthaupt, who was also a trained paramedic, called the hotel front desk from her sixth-floor room. The front desk in turn called security, who then called 911. At 1:45 p.m. (EST) the bodyguard administered CPR until paramedics arrived and Smith was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital at 2:10 p.m. (EST) and pronounced dead on arrival at 2:49 p.m.
Ultimately her death was ruled accidental drug overdose of the sedative chloral hydrate that became increasingly lethal when combined with other prescription drugs in her system, specifically four benzodiazepines: Klonopin (Clonazepam), Ativan (Lorazepam), Serax (Oxazepam), and Valium (Diazepam). Furthermore, she had taken Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) and Topamax (Topiramate), an anticonvulsant AMPA/Kainate antagonist, which likely contributed to the sedative effect of chloral hydrate and the benzodiazepines. Although the individual levels of any of the benzodiazepines in her system would not have been sufficient to cause death, their combination with a high dose of chloral hydrate led to her overdose. The autopsy report indicates that chloral hydrate was the "toxic/lethal" drug, but it is difficult to know whether chloral hydrate ingestion alone would have killed her, since Dr. Perper indicated (in the March 26 press conference) that she had built up a tolerance to the drug and took more than the average person.
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Anna_Nicole_Smith ]
Sources
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