Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith began her modeling career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year. She later modeled for clothing companies, including Guess, H&M, and Heatherette.
In 1994, Smith married 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall. Following Marshall's death in 1995, she began a lengthy legal battle over his estate that reached the Supreme Court of the United States. In the early 2000s, Smith served as a spokeswoman for the dietary supplement brand TrimSpa and appeared in films. She also starred in her own reality program on E!, The Anna Nicole Show (2002–2004).
Smith died from combined drug intoxication in Hollywood, Florida, in 2007.
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, in Houston, Texas, the only daughter of Virgie Tabers Arthur (1951–2018) and Donald Eugene Hogan (1947–2009). She was primarily raised by her mother and her family in Mexia, Texas. She attended Mexia High School before dropping out in 1984.
While working as an exotic dancer, Smith began her modeling career in Playboy. Appearing under the pseudonym Vickie Smith, she was the Playboy centerfold in May 1992. She was named Playmate of the Year in 1993.
That same year, Smith replaced supermodel Claudia Schiffer as the face of Guess Jeans. The advertising campaign featured a series of sultry black-and-white photographs. During the Guess campaign, she adopted the stage name "Anna Nicole". Guess photographers noticed that she bore a striking resemblance to Jayne Mansfield and showcased her in several Mansfield-inspired photo sessions. She also modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M, which led to her picture being displayed on large billboards in Sweden and Norway. Smith appeared on the cover of Marie Claire, shot by Peter Lindbergh, and in GQ magazine. In 2004, she walked the runway for Heatherette in their Fall 2004 collection. In November 2004, she appeared in her anti-fur ad campaign for PETA entitled "Gentlemen Prefer Fur-Free Blondes."
In October 2003, Smith became the spokeswoman for TrimSpa, a dietary supplement she said helped her lose a reported 69 pounds (31 kg). On February 6, 2007, two days before her death, TrimSpa and Smith were sued in a class-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight loss pill was false or misleading. TrimSpa filed for bankruptcy after her death and was liquidated.
In March 2005, at the first MTV Australia Video Music Awards in Sydney's Luna Park, Smith spoofed Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction by pulling down her dress to reveal both breasts, each covered with the MTV logo.
Smith made her film debut in 1994 in the screwball comedy The Hudsucker Proxy, in which she played the minor role of Za-Za. She was offered roles in two other major 1994 films: The Mask and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. She turned down The Mask and took the role of Tanya Peters in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. In 1995, she played the lead role of Vickie Lynn, an ex-CIA agent using the pseudonym Colette Dubois, in the thriller To the Limit. The following year, she portrayed Carrie Wink in the direct-to-video film Skyscraper.
In 2002, Smith became the subject of her own reality sitcom, The Anna Nicole Show. The show followed Smith, her personal assistant Kimmie, her personal attorney Howard K. Stern, and her son Daniel Wayne Smith. The program ran from August 2002 to October 2004 on the E! Network.
After a nine-year hiatus from film, Smith played a cameo role in the 2005 crime comedy Be Cool. Her final film role was the lead of Lucy in the low-budget science fiction comedy film Illegal Aliens, which she filmed alongside her son, Daniel. The film was released posthumously in May 2007.
While working at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith, a cook at the restaurant. The couple married on April 4, 1985, when he was 16 and she was 17. She gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne Smith, on January 22, 1986. The couple separated the following year and divorced in 1993.
While performing at a Houston strip club in October 1991, Smith met 86-year-old petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall. On June 27, 1994, Smith and Marshall were married in Houston, prompting speculation that she married him for his money. Marshall died on August 4, 1995, in Houston, at age 90.
In October 1994, Smith filed a $5 million lawsuit against New York magazine, claiming that she did not authorize the use of her photo on the cover of its issue titled "White Trash Nation" and that the article damaged her reputation. The lawsuit was settled.
Smith was not named in Marshall's will. She claimed that in return for marriage, Marshall promised her half of his estate. The estate primarily consisted of a 16% interest in Koch, Inc., worth $1.6 billion. Smith's stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, challenged her claim. She temporarily joined forces with J. Howard's other son, J. Howard Marshall III, who had been disowned after attempting to take control of Koch. Howard III claimed that his father had promised him a portion of the estate; like Smith, he was also left out of his father's will.
In 1996, Smith filed for bankruptcy in California as a result of an $850,000 default judgment against her for the sexual harassment of a nanny who cared for her son. Because any money she could potentially receive from the Marshall estate was considered part of her potential assets, the bankruptcy court became involved in the matter.
In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134.00, the amount that Marshall's interest in Koch appreciated during their marriage. In July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood affirmed the jury's findings in the probate case by ruling that Smith was entitled to nothing. He ordered her to pay over $1 million to cover the legal costs and expenses of E. Pierce Marshall. The conflict between the Texas probate court and California bankruptcy court judgments forced the matter into federal court.
In March 2002, a federal judge vacated the California bankruptcy court's ruling and issued a new ruling that reduced the award to $88 million. On December 30, 2004, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision on the grounds that the federal courts lacked jurisdiction to overrule the probate court's decision. In September 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of the Ninth Circuit decision. The George W. Bush administration directed Paul Clement, the United States Solicitor General, to intercede on Smith's behalf in the interest of expanding federal court jurisdiction over state probate disputes. On May 1, 2006, the Supreme Court unanimously decided in Smith's favor. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion. The decision did not give Smith a portion of Marshall's estate, but affirmed her right to pursue a share of it in federal court.