Once upon a time, Anna Nicole Smith was one of the biggest celebrities in the world. She was a model who had graced publications such as Playboy, and she later became an actor. All along the way, she was a media darling who always turned heads and generated punchlines. Sadly, though, she was taken from us too soon and died of a drug overdose.
Since she died, friends, fans, and family have all done the same thing: tried to understand who Anna Nicole Smith really was. Unfortunately, the truth can be heartbreaking because there was far more to Smith’s life than the glitz and the glamor. And the more you learn about ambitious but troubled young woman, the more you’ll realize that her life is a horror story.
Don’t believe it? Keep reading to learn the most heartbreaking details of Anna Nicole Smith’s life!
Childhood days were rough
When you remember Anna Nicole Smith, chances are you remember her at the height of her power. She was rich, famous, and drop-dead gorgeous, so you’d be forgiven for assuming that she must have had it easy growing up. In reality, though, Smith had a rough childhood, starting with the fact that her mother and father divorced when she was just a toddler. Afterward, she was raised by her mother, and this is when things really went south.
In the recent Netflix documentary about the celebrity’s life, her old friend Missy Byrum made the explosive claim that Smith’s mother, Virgie Mae, “would handcuff her to the bed for days and just beat her mercilessly.” Eventually, Mae sent Smith to live with her extended family members, which may have made the younger woman feel abandoned by the only parent that was still a part of her life.
A failed acting career
Anna Nicole Smith eventually became a famous celebrity, one who parlayed her good looks into a lifetime of luxurious opportunities. But not all of her endeavors were successful. For example, she got her big break in 1994 when she was offered a role in the Coen Brothers’ movie The Hudsucker Proxy. At the time, she hoped that acting in a big movie with such major directors would launch her career sky high.
That never really worked out, though. Sure, she landed acting gigs in movies like Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult and To the Limit, but these were bit parts that usually just made Smith into the butt of the joke. She never really got to be a leading lady, though, and her attempt to be an actor culminated with The Anna Nicole Smith Show, which was unceremoniously canceled after two seasons.
Smith’s failure to launch an acting career was a major embarrassment. She already had successful careers in both fashion and modeling, so everybody thought she would have an easy life in Hollywood. The fact that she couldn’t successfully transition into the world of acting was ultimately a huge blemish on an otherwise meteoric career.
Notoriously unlucky in love
At the height of her fame, Anna Nicole Smith seemed like one of the most eligible bachelorettes in the entire world. With her stunning good looks and worldwide fame, most of us assumed that the model would easily find the man of her dreams and settle down into her own happily ever. Sadly, that didn’t happen, as Smith ended up divorcing her first husband.
When she was only 17, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith. They were both working at Houston’s Krispy Fried Chicken, and the young woman was determined to marry her childhood sweetheart. She got her way, and the two tied the knot in 1985. Their relationship quickly deteriorated, though, with Smith alleging that her husband was an abusive control freak.
When their baby was only six months old, Smith took both of them out of Billy Wayne’s life. Later, she very controversially married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, which generated many tabloid claims that the 26-year-old had only married the 89-year-old for his money. When he died, she got that money, but only temporarily…after a series of legal setbacks, everything she won was taken away. Rather than becoming fabulously wealthy, the model had to file for bankruptcy.
Ongoing mental health issues
Tragically, most people didn’t know that Anna Nicole Smith struggled with mental health until she died from a drug overdose in 2007. This came in many forms, including an eating disorder. While never confirmed, most assume that this disorder came from being constantly told that she had to lose weight in order to maintain her career as a model and actor.
The need to look perfect for the cameras is almost certainly why Anna Nicole Smith got breast augmentation surgery. According to her old friend Missy Byrum, pain from her boob job caused the model to seek out hardcore painkillers, including Xanax, Valium, Lortabs, Klonopin, and Vicodin. Her addiction to painkillers ultimately sealed Smith’s fate, contributing to the accidental drug overdose that caused her death.