At the beginning of the year the world was shocked to find out about the death of Anna Nicole Smith, who, on February 8, 2007, was found unresponsive in her hotel room and a few hours later was declared dead at the Memorial Regional Hospital in Florida. This was the end of a very troubled and controversial life, of a woman who throughout the years offered the tabloids a number of topics to dis upon. But out of all the things that were said about her - fox, vamp, gold digger, idiot, manipulative, voluptuous, just to mention a few - we need to keep in mind that Anna was not a bad woman, she was just playing the game of fame, which rarely has fair rules.

The Marylin-wannabe Anna was born Vickie Lynn Marshall in Houston, Texas. Her accent remained one of her trademarks throughout her life, together with her surgically enhanced breasts - which she didn't have a problem in exposing every now and then. Anna had a troubled childhood as a child, her father leaving the family when she was a baby and her mother remarrying several times after that. Anna did not do well in school and during her sophomore year she dropped out, saying good-bye forever to the world of academics.

She began working as a waitress and by the time she was 18 she had already married and given birth to a son - Daniel Wayne Smith. Her marriage lasted only two years, as she separated from her husband in 1987 (the divorce became official in 1993). Anna moved to Houston and started working at Wal-Mart and later on at Red Lobster. But her life was about to take a completely different turn, when in 1992 Hugh Hefner picked her for the cover of the March edition of 'Playboy'.

From that point Anna made 'Playmate of the Year' several times and secured an ad contract with the Guess jeans company, then the H&M company. She was rapidly ascending to the status of sex symbol, as men everywhere were attracted by her voluptuous figure. But then a new twist changed the path of Anna's existence. On June 27, 1994, after her divorce from her first husband became final, she married J. Howard Marshall. Howard was old and very very rich, and a lot of voices have been speculating, to this day, that Anna married him for the money. She always denied that, saying that age didn't matter to her and that she loved her husband.

Thirteen months from the marriage date Howard died and another chapter began in Anna's life - the court battle one. The Texas beauty spent an incredible amount of time in court, battling with Howard's heirs. She claimed Howard had promised her half of his fortune. In 2000 she was awarded over $400 million out of her husband's $1.6 billion estate, but that decision was later overruled. The fight over Howard's fortune will probably go on in spite of Anna's death.

Anna did not limit herself to modeling and exposing her body in the Playboy magazine. She starred in movies - all highly criticized ('The Hudsucker Proxy', 'The Naked Gun 331/3: The Final Insult', 'To the Limit', 'Skyscraper') - and had her own TV show on E! Cable network. The critics did not go easy on Anna's show and the low ratings led to its cancelation in 2004. Few know that Anna also had an attempt to break into the music world, recording a song that had minor success in clubs.

During this time Smith was having important weight problems. She had gone up to a size 18 and had lost the image of sexy vamp she had been famous for. But in 2004 she lost a lot of weight and became the spokesperson for TrimSpa, a weight loss product. When she manifested some strange behavior in public it was rumored to be because of the pills she was taking and/or of her drug/alcohol issues.

On September 7, 2006, she gave birth to a baby girl, after she had previously announced on her web site she was pregnant. The baby was named Dannielynn Hope, in memory of Anna's first son, who had died while visiting her and the baby at the hospital in Bahamas. The doctors established that Daniel had died because of a mix of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro. At his funeral Anna became very emotional and tried to climb into the coffin. People close to her said that her son was indeed the most important person in Anna's life.

As for the father of Anna's baby, a lot of controversy was stirred, even after her death. She never said who the daddy was and following a DNA test it was established that Larry Birkhead, photojournalist and a former boyfriend of Anna is the real father. It was speculated that she could have used some of Howard Marshall's frozen sperm to impregnate herself or that her lawyer, Howard K. Stern is the father. A few months before her death she had a commitment ceremony to Stern, but no marriage certificate was issued.

During her stay in Bahamas Anna caused even more trouble, because of some pictures of her embracing Shane Gibson, Immigration Minister of Bahamas. Gibson resigned his position because of the media scandal that followed the release of the photos. Smith was staying in Bahamas at a $900,000 mansion, but she was in danger of being evicted, as she did not return the lawn to real estate developer G. Ben Thompson. When the property was reclaimed paparazzi photos showed a large bottle of methadone in Smith's refrigerator.

Following her death there was a media circus on the topic of the drugs she had taken prior to becoming unconscious. 11 drugs were found in her system and while none of them would have had a toxic effect by themselves, the combination proved to be lethal. Further more, most of them were not prescribed to Anna but to Stern.

On March 2, 2007, Anna Nicole Smith was buried next to her son, Daniel Smith, at Nassau's Lakeview Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum. It was rumored that Daniel's father wants his son moved to Texas, but no confirmation has been issued so far. A book on Anna's life is supposed to appear, written by her former lawyer/lover Howard Stern.

All in all, Anna had a very intense life. She made a name for herself - and maybe more mistakes than she should have - but the world cannot cast a stone at her because the truth is always somewhere in the middle, between the tabloid gossip and the events that remain hidden from the public. So what do you say, is Anna IN or is she OUT?

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