Essay 3 – Anna Nicole Smith

We had to choose a person that had recently been in the news and had to tell why their particular story had such longevity in the press. What was it about them that made us watch? I chose Anna Nicole Smith, because I was never quite sure if she was really as simple as she portrayed, not only that but there was something that has always drawn her to me. Bizarre I know, but I always felt sorry for her.

Despite our love or hate of Anna Nicole Smith, people tuned in when she died. Anna never seemed to be out of the news for long periods of time and when she was in the news it seemed to be negative press. Anna's story had it all, beauty, fame, and scandal. Why is it that we love to glory in other people's trials and tribulations? Why must we show peoples' most intimate and devastating times to the masses? Even though we as a nation, long to have the "lifestyle" that we see portrayed on television, we still reserve the right to look down on those that take up the front page of our newspapers. Could it be possible that we as a nation secretly long to know that celebrities are just a screwed up as we are. Perhaps we feel more at ease with our own lives by poo-pooing the poor decisions that others like Anna Nicole Smith made.

Anna was born Vicki Lynn Hogan and at the age of 17 she made what most would classify as her first mistake; she married 16 year old Billy Smith. Anna reports a home life that many would deem harmful in that her mother would "beat and kick" her. Some would not blame her for wanting to get out at any cost. Anna came on the scene as a voluptuous blond bombshell that sent in her photo to Playboy while making minimum wage. Practically becoming an overnight success and then became the model for Guess Jeans.

Anna Nicole was compared to Marilyn Monroe both in looks and in backgrounds. They were both from small towns and the desire for leaving would lead them both down a road wrought with pain and tragedy. As with Marilyn, Hollywood was the vehicle that drove her from small town middle America. The first time that society was made aware of one of the many bad decisions that Anna would make was when she married J. Howard Marshall. J. Howard Mashall was a very rich man who happened to be 89 years old, 63 years her senior. People immediately thought that she married him only for his money and began to make snap judgments of her character. Here is a woman who seems to be on top of the world and could have practically any man she wants and she marries an 89 year old man. Many people felt that her motives for marring him were for personal gain, not love or genuine feeling.

Once her husband dies Anna is in the news once again. Now she is fighting against her step-son for her claim to her late husband's estate. Even though both Anna and Marshalls' son are left out of the will, both maintain that J. Howard Marshall orally promised them a portion of the estate. This only re-enforces everyone's thoughts of her as a money hungry bimbo.

Anna goes from being in the news for "leeching" off of her husbands estate to being accused of using drugs and becoming an overweight wanna be actress who is jumping on the band wagon of Reality TV. At least now she has a hand in what is being put out there for everyone to see and in a sense being paid for being exploited. With all the bad publicity from outside media, Anna is now able to get her side out there in the form of "The Anna Nicole Smith Show". Even as her life appears to be going towards an out of work, has been she continues to put herself in the public eye by doing interviews for radio and late night television. Maybe it is true that bad publicity is better than no publicity. Some personalities begin to comment about her taking drugs, as well as her weight gain and slurred speech. At this time of her life, it appears by her countenance that she is lost and unsure of herself.

It seems that Anna had many different relationships with different men as evidenced by the number of men who came forward to say that they had fathered her daughter Dannielynn. This seems peculiar in that the majority of men are hesitant to proclaim to the world that they have fathered a child out of wedlock. The only relationship that seemed to stand the test of time was with her handler/escort, Howard K. Stern. Whether that relationship was good for her or toxic, is debatable. There are those that say they witnessed Howard giving her drugs and felt that he exploited Anna most of all.

From what the press printed, Anna's immediate family was estranged. Who knows what happened when she was a child. When she becomes pregnant with her second child it seemed to be more focused. Time with the family, the family she made; was important to her, but she always seemed a little sad. Maybe life had not become what she had hoped, maybe she felt disappointed with how things went, however, when she became pregnant with her second child she seemed to be excited. It was that joy for a new life that made the news of her first child's death so astonishing to the public. It had to have been hard to rejoice at the birth of her daughter and at the same time grieve for her son.

The public watched her downward spiral and no one was taken by surprise at Anna Nicole Smith's death. It was foretold wasn't it, when she was compared to Marilyn Monroe? Even in death Anna was in the news; people fought over who would get her body, where would she be buried, who was the father of baby Dannielynn, the cycle continued. In trying to be informed you inevitably hear the sensational stories about the entertainment industry. Maybe the reason we are so hot to eat up the headlines for Anna Nicole Smith was because she is what we all wanted at sometime, fame, fortune and what we would think would be an easy life. Anna could be an example of sometimes we should be careful what we wish for because sometimes it isn't the best thing for us.