The flamboyant former model Anna Nicole Smith has died near Miami, Florida at the age of 39, her lawyer has said.

Smith, a former Playboy bunny, married Texas oil billionaire J Howard Marshall II in 1994 when she was 26 and he was 89. He died a year later.

She spent years in court fighting his son for a share of his estate, and won a victory at the Supreme Court in 2006.

She was found unconscious in a hotel room and could not be resuscitated. No cause of death has been announced.

US media have reported that an autopsy will be conducted on Friday.

One of Smith's lawyers told Reuters news agency her husband Howard K Stern was "speechless and grieving".

Family tragedy

Her son Daniel, the product of a short-lived youthful marriage, died at the age of 20 in September, just days after Smith's daughter was born.


Anna Nicole Smith with her son Daniel in a July 2004 file photo

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Obituary: Anna Nicole Smith

The baby girl is the subject of a paternity suit, with Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead saying he is the father of the child.

He sued Smith in Oct 2006, shortly after the baby was born.

Smith said Mr Stern, who is also her lawyer, was the father of the child.

A former topless dancer, Smith modelled for Guess Jeans and Playboy before marrying Marshall.

She also appeared in films including one of the Naked Gun movies.

She had her own reality TV show, The Anna Nicole Smith show, from 2002 to 2004.

Smith was born Vicki Lynn Hogan in Mexia, Texas, on 28 Nov 1967.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6344725.stm

well i never really knew much about her, i didnt realise her son had died in september, i suspect she will be best known as a glamour model who married an ailing old billionaire. isnt it sad when you see a life wasted like that though?

DOH, you beat me LMAO, i'll delete my thread
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she was an absolute waste of space..trailer trash f**k up at best, got her tits out, tried to do an old(billionaire) pervert of his cash... yee fookin haa. do feel sorry for the kid she left behind. no doubt it'll be s drugs overdose combined with alcohol like the old boy, that killed her.

Yeah I remember reading about her son dying and the baby being born. Sad that the tot will grow up motherless

za za gabor's hubby has joined the fray now!

3 men claiming to be the father ..... amazing what comes out of the woodwork when 274 mill is at stake!

What did she die of by the way? Most people don't die that young unless it is something like drugs overdose.

i am also sagittarian,same day as anna nicole,so beginning of the year,thought right, time to make life changes do something different... .and so took an interest in both women,looking for insperation......ones dead the other has lost the plot........whats in store for me??????