Rediscovering Anna Nicole Smith: New Netflix Documentary Explores Her Complex Life
Sixteen years after her passing, Anna Nicole Smith is once again in the headlines as filmmaker Ursula Macfarlane attempts to portray the late model in a more nuanced light. The Netflix documentary, "You Don't Know Me," set to premiere on May 16, aims to delve deeper into the troubled life of the model and actress, who was often dismissed as a superficial bombshell.
Anna Nicole's tragic end came on February 8, 2007, when she was found dead in her Florida hotel room at the age of 39. She had reportedly been in and out of consciousness for days, with 44 different medications surrounding her. Two years after her death, her security guard recalled the haunting image of her sipping chloral hydrate from a baby bottle.
Macfarlane's documentary seeks to portray Anna Nicole Smith as a "complex woman" and a cautionary tale about the perils of chasing the American dream. Her death followed a series of heartbreaking events, including the death of her 20-year-old son Daniel from a drug overdose, just three days after she gave birth to her daughter, Dannielynn.
During this period, Anna Nicole was in a relationship with Howard K. Stern, initially believed to be the father of her newborn. He later faced an investigation into whether he and her doctors conspired to provide dangerous drugs to an addict using fake names, although a judge dropped the criminal charges in 2011. An insider shared, "There were too few people she could trust, and the ones she trusted may not have been thinking of her best interests."
Stern was also representing Anna Nicole in a lengthy lawsuit over her late billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall's estate. Despite accusations of being a gold digger, she insisted that their love was genuine and that she deserved a share of his fortune. After her death, the case continued to the Supreme Court.
In April 2007, a DNA test confirmed that photographer Larry Birkhead was Dannielynn's father. The two have since lived a relatively private life, with an insider describing Dannielynn as a "normal, well-adjusted teen." Birkhead reportedly emphasizes to his daughter that her mother was a small-town girl at heart and that being a good person is more important than stardom.