Anna Nicole Smith didn’t have a huge career. Her most obvious career move was marrying a rich geriatric, but she was a Playboy Playmate of the Year and modeled for Guess. Larry Birkhead wants his young daughter with Anna Nicole to have memories of her mother, so he bought her some lingerie that was worn by the blond in a Playboy magazine pictorial.

Baby daddy Larry Birkhead is looking forward to showing 1-year-old Dannielynn the lingerie he purchased at a celebrity auction on Saturday night, a pink bustier (bought for $1,800) and white negligee (bought for $1,000) once worn by the late model for a Playboy photo shoot.

Smith’s onetime boyfriend said he wants to make sure the young heiress has something to remember her mom by. He hopes the sexy undergarments will help Dannielynn understand her mother’s life story—one day.

“You know, it’s not something I can show today, but something down the road,” he said. “It’s not going to be in any bedtime stories anytime soon.”

E! Online

I know a lot of people think this is in questionable taste, but I’d rather that Larry Birkhead had it stored somewhere for his daughter to have, rather than it going on display somewhere.

Larry says that he won’t be showing his daughter the lingerie anytime soon. I wonder if he will eventually show Danielynn the picture of Anna Nicole wearing it. I guess one day he’ll have to explain it, but does anyone ever want to see a picture of their late mother in a raunchy Playboy pictorial?

Maybe Larry could ask Pamela Anderson how she explains her nude modeling past to her young sons. Wow, who ever would have thought you could go to Pamela Anderson for advice?

Larry Birkhead and daughter Dannielynn are shown at the opening of The Simpsons ride at Universal Studios Hollywood on 5/17/08, thanks to WENN.

Howard K Stern and his dead eyes were on Scientologist Greta Van Sustern’s show on Fox News yesterday. He talked about the night Anna Nicole’s son Daniel died in her hospital room four days after she had baby Danielynn, in September, 2006.

Stern recounted the story in his typical flat affect, showing absolutely no emotion and looking straight ahead almost the entire time.

He said that after Daniel died Anna was inconsolable and refused to believe he was dead. Howard said he took the photo of Anna clutching dead Daniel in the hospital bed for her, and that it was stolen and leaked to the media. He said that he couldn’t take Daniel home with them, but he could take that last photo for Anna. Sustern acknowledged receiving the photo, but said she chose not to run it. I cannot remember seeing that photo.

Daniel’s death was officially ruled an accident earlier this month after an inquest in the Bahamas. He was said to have died of the drug combination of methadone, Zoloft and Lexapro. Coupled with Anna Nicole’s death from a drug overdose on Stern’s watch, it makes him look guilty as hell, but he’s managed to avoid being implicated in either death and it could perhaps be a coincidence.

Lawyer Howard K Stern continues to stay in the mansion in the Bahamas that Anna scammed from an ex boyfriend, developer Ben Thompson. The National Enquirer reported on April 7 that “Stern is living in the place pending the outcome of the ownership battle.” Eviction proceedings were started by Thompson over a year ago.

The inquest into the death of Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel is going on in the Bahamas. It’s hard to tell who is the bigger surviving famewhore: Larry Birkhead or Howard K. Stern. Both hangers-on have been called to testify in the investigation and give two very different accounts of Daniel. Larry Birkhead claims that Daniel often dipped into his mother’s formidable stash of prescription drugs, and that Anna herself gave Daniel the drug ecstasy on occasion. Stern, however, says that Daniel was “not that kind of kid.” When Stern was grilled about his motives for taking photographs of Daniel’s dead body, he explained that he wasn’t looking to make money off the photos, but instead took them for Anna’s sake, because she was not able to accept that her son was really gone.

Larry Birkhead said he knew Daniel Smith was sneaking his mom’s methadone and that Anna Nicole Smith gave him Ecstasy to take at home.

Meanwhile, Howard K. Stern was saying, “Huh?”…

“I didn’t believe Daniel died of a drug overdose at all,” Stern said. “Even after the toxicology report came back, I thought that was some kind of setup or something. He wasn’t that kind of kid.”

Smith was found to have died of a toxic combination of methadone, antidepressants and sleeping pills. His passing was originally deemed “suspicious” by the coroner who performed his autopsy. The inquest, which finally got under way in November after a year of postponements, was held to formally determine what killed Daniel and whether any criminal charges should be filed.

The magistrate will likely hand the case over to the seven-member jury on Thursday…

“Daniel said to me, ‘I don’t know why I’m so tired,’ ” Stern testified. “I didn’t think anything of it. I wish I had.”

Stern copped to taking a picture of Daniel’s body after he died, but adamantly denied his intention was to profit from the morbid shot, as the son-in-law of one of Smith’s exes testified earlier.

Smith, who was beside herself with grief and was having trouble accepting Daniel was really dead, requested he take the picture, Stern said. “I did that for her, and I would do it again.”

[From E!Online]

I think this inquest is a giant waste of time. Nobody in this case is going to tell the truth, and the one person who really wanted to know what happened to Daniel– his mother– is dead. As for all the new details about Anna and her son’s drug use, it’s sad, but at this point, it’s nobody’s business. They’re both dead; and nothing is going to be gained by further dragging them through the mud. It just seems like more of an excuse for Larry Birkhead and Howard Stern to be on camera.

Note by Celebitchy: I think there was some funny business in Daniel’s death and would like to see Howard K Stern answer some tough questions about it. It seems suspicious to me that Birkhead is saying Daniel pilfered Anna’s drugs while Stern is saying the opposite, like they planned it together to make it seem believable. The coroner found that Daniel injested so much methadone that he must have be trying to kill himself. Why would he do that when his baby sister was just born? It doesn’t make sense.

Howard K Stern and Larry Birkhead are shown below on April 10, 2007 after a paternity hearing that announced that Birkhead was Dannielynn’s father.

Way back in 2004, Anna Nicole Smith and Howard K Stern came up with an idea for a show called “Celebrities Strike Back.” The treatment, which was submitted to E! and registered with the Writer’s Guild, had Anna Nicole and other celebs turning the tables on the paparazzi with staged events to see if the media would pick up the stories. Sound a little familiar? Well it’s pretty darn close to Ashton Kutcher’s new show for E! called “Pop Fiction.” In it, celebs… turn the tables on the paparazzi and media to see if they’ll pick up the stories. Like when we all started writing about Paris Hilton wandering around L.A. with some crazed guru. Who was revealed to be an actor after a very short period of time – but we all thought the joke was on Paris, not us. Boy that sounds freakishly similar.

Ashton’s show sounds like a carbon of Anna’s treatment — “…what happens if Anna Nicole Smith and other celebrities turn the tables and capitalize off of the overzealous media? What if the next big supposed scandal is not a scandal at all? What if everything is staged, but the media (and the public) don’t know it?” It continues, Anna Nicole and other celebrity guests take aim at the media and push all the limits.”

That’s Ashton Kutcher’s show and we’re told Howard K. has already threatened suit. What is really pissing him off is that he and Anna had multiple meetings with E!. Two months ago, Stern spoke with E! again on behalf of the estate and the network seemed intrigued by making Larry Birkhead the celeb to do the first prank and then host the show. Ultimately Jay James said it just wouldn’t work. Oh really?

[From TMZ]

I never like to give Howard K Stern credit for anything if I can, but it sure seems like he could have a pretty legitimate lawsuit on his hands. This show seems pretty much up Ashton Kutcher’s alley, and it’s entirely possible that he or someone at his production company came up with the idea without ever knowing about Smith and Stern’s show. It’s also possible that E! liked the idea but didn’t like Anna for the project, and once she passed away brought the idea to Kutcher. Either way, the common denominator is E! They knew about Anna’s show and are airing Ashton’s show. They’ve made a ton of money off her in the last few years, and should have been more respectful.

Larry Birkhead brought his 17 month-old daughter, Dannielynn, to the grave site of her mother, the infamous departed Anna Nicole Smith, in the Bahamas yesterday for the first anniversary of her death. He just happened to dress the tot in her finest and bring along a television crew. The touching moment when Dannielynn whispered “momma” and laid a pink toy on the grave of the mother she’ll only know from videos and photos was captured for the benefit of the curious masses and will be broadcast on Entertainment Tonight.

February 5, 2008 (Los Angeles, CA)– ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT’s JANN CARL was exclusively with Larry Birkhead and daughter Dannielynn this week in Nassau, Bahamas as the 17-month-old made her first trip back to visit her mother and brother’s graves, one year after her mother’s sudden death.

In an a multi-part interview to begin airing on Wednesday, February 6th, Birkhead says the visit is difficult for him, but he arranged it for his daughter, “It’s tough. Even though she doesn’t understand, it was important for us to come. One day I can tell her that we went to visit her mom.” When they arrived at the unmarked gravesites, Dannielynn placed a pink toy turtle on Anna Nicole’s plot and whispered, “mama.”

On why the graves of Anna Nicole and Daniel are without tombstones, Birkhead says, “A rough draft came back with a sketch of a picture I didn’t care for. I could just hear her hitting me over the head saying, ‘Why did you let that picture go down!?’” Birkhead reveals that the design of the headstone will be “so grand and big. It’s going to encompass Daniel’s stone too.”
When asked how he feels about making the journey from Los Angeles to Nassau, Birkhead speaks candidly, “I don’t like the fact that they’re here, I never did. I know that Daniel didn’t want to be here and I know that his mother was only here because of what was going on between us with the paternity question. To me it feels really odd.” On if he has considered moving the graves, he says, “I’m going to leave the decision to Dannielynn when she’s older. It would probably be very hard, if not impossible to take both of them and I definitely don’t want to separate them.”

In an effort to keep Anna’s memory alive for their daughter, Birkhead tells ET, “I keep a lot of memories around. I quiz her and she knows Mama. I say, ‘Where’s Mama?’ and she’ll give Mama a kiss on the picture.”

[ET press release via Gossip Rocks]

What I want to know is - how are they going to spread this out into a multi-part interview? She’s dead, it’s hard, your daughter doesn’t understand, end of story. I mean you feel for people’s pain but what else is there to say?

Part of me doesn’t want to hate on Birkhead. The guy is a former paparazzo who really does care about his daughter and fought hard to win custody of her. He’s also obviously not adverse to using his daughter to make a buck and he’s probably running low on cash now that his deals are drying up and he has all those legal bills he’s contesting. (It seemed like he really got fleeced by that lawyer Debra Opri, and he’s probably paying someone a lot of money to fight that case. He also probably has to pay for those grand gravestones he’s ordering for Anna Nicole and Daniel.)

Birkhead has told The NY Daily News that he plans to sue over yet another book about Anna Nicole, “Anna Nicole Smith: Portrait of an Icon,” which is currently available for download for $15. The book was written by a fashion designer for Anna Nicole and his partner. The designer alleges that he met Birkhead at a camp for HIV positive youth and that he was quite open about his preference for men.

Birkhead also said that author Rita Cosby would be sued for a book about Anna Nicole that came out last year called “Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death” which claimed that Birkhead and creepy Anna hanger-on Howard K Stern were gay lovers. It was Stern who ended up suing Cosby to the tune of $60 million.

The inquest into Anna’s son Daniel’s death is underway. The coroner testified that 20 year-old Daniel’s death a year and a half ago couldn’t have been an accident, which suggests murder or suicide. He had too much methadone in his system for it to have not been intentional. Many people suspect Anna’s lawyer, Howard K Stern, had a hand in Daniel’s untimely demise. Anna’s death less than six months later was ruled an accidental overdose.

As for whether it’s news that Dannielynn went to her mom’s grave before she’s even two, I doubt it. Take some sweet pictures and do the interview at home or go to the park and play. Go to Disneyworld and get all your meals, admission and hotel stay comped while trying to score some cash for a cross-promotional deal. The kid won’t remember that either, but at least it will be fun for her.

The inquest into the death of Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel has resumed. Though he died sixteen months ago, the inquest has been plagued by delays. The essential point is to determine how Daniel Smith died and if anyone was responsible for his death. His autopsy blamed a fatal combination of prescription drugs. However the inquest’s purpose is to figure out if it was accidental, suicidal, or if someone killed Daniel. A lot of suspicion has fallen on creepy Howard K. Stern, Anna’s “partner” - though it seems that they were likely never romantically involved. After Anna died last spring, the inquest was put on hold again. However they’ve been working at a steady pace the last few days, and have taken testimony from several of Anna’s friends.

Several of Anna’s associates have described Daniel as a boy who was painfully shy and somewhat embarrassed by his mother.

Ford Shelley, the son-in-law of G. Ben Thompson, a former boyfriend of the reality star and the developer who owned the Nassau home Smith and Howard K. Stern resided in the months leading up to her death, told the Coroner’s Court that the 20-year-old boy was a “brilliant” child who had for years been “living in a shell” as a result of his mother’s overshadowing fame and larger-than-life public persona.

“He wanted to break free,” Shelley said. “He loved his mother but didn’t want to be known as her son.”

[From E!]

Shelly denied that Daniel could have had a drug problem, noting that he “couldn’t even hold his liquor” and was “afraid of his own shadow.” Shelly noted that after Daniel died, he saw Howard K Stern find two white pills in the pockets of a pair of Daniel’s pants - which Stern quickly flushed down the toilet. Shelly said that he knew Daniel had recently broken up with his girlfriend and had a history of serious depression, but that he did not think he was suicidal. However the director of the medical examiner’s office in Miami-Dade County (where Daniel’s toxicology tests were performed) said it was likely an “intentional ingestion” due to the sheer quantity of drugs.

While eight different drugs, a combination of antidepressants and stimulants, were found in Daniel’s body at the time of his death, “clearly the methadone was the key in understanding this death. But for the methadone, he would not have died.”

[Dr. William Lee] Hern further claimed that, while he could not know for certain whether he did so deliberately or unintentionally, the large amount of drugs taken by Daniel in such a short amount of time—a onetime dosage of four pills rather than one, possibly diluted in a drink—lent itself to “a high degree of probability” that the overdose of drugs was “an intentional ingestion.”

“Based on the amount in the stomach, it was not an attempt to get high,” he said. “It was enough to kill him, with some left over unabsorbed. If what was in his blood hadn’t killed him, the remainder would have continued its toxic effect.”

[From E!]

I never though Daniel’s death was accidental, it was just a matter of speculating whether he killed himself or Howard K Stern did it. Whenever I considered the possibility of suicide, I couldn’t help but think about the timing. When you’re 20 years old, an only child, and admittedly very close to your needy mother, it must be incredibly bizarre for her to suddenly have a brand new baby girl and be shaking up with an evil guy. I thought Daniel might have been suicidal depressed because he perhaps thought he didn’t matter to his mother as much as he used to. I would think a lot of things were changing in his life, and that’d have to be a shock to the system. It never occurred to me that he obviously had his own life and own issues, and breaking up with a girlfriend can be really hard - especially when you’re just 20 years old. It can feel like the world is ending.

The issue of the methadone still remains incredibly suspicious, considering it played a role in Anna’s death a few months later. Being a lawyer, you’d think that if Howard K Stern were involved in some way, he’d be smart enough not to use methadone twice. But he’s never struck me as a particularly intelligent fellow, at least to hear him speak in interviews. So at this point we know that Daniel Smith’s death was caused by an “intentional ingestion” of drugs. What remains to be ruled is whether foul play was involved.

Thank God Larry Birkhead is around to keep us updated on the excruciating minutiae of his life. That’s a fancy way of saying “Thank God Larry Birkhead is pimping out his daughter.” Because let’s be honest, Dannielynn is really the other thing Birkhead’s got going for him, gossip-wise. Well that and oddly over-arched eyebrows, but I’ll leave that alone for today. According to Birkhead - who just had to go on “Entertainment Tonight” to make this announcement – Dannielynn is suffering from strabismus, which is making her cross-eyed. As many as five percent of all kids have some form of strabismus, which is generally treated first with an eye patch.

Larry Birkhead, says, “She has a… turning in of one of her eyes, and it’s something that we’ve been looking out for for a while. I’ve been taking her to the doctors and… Anna had taken Dannielynn to the doctor to see about it when she was just a few months old.”

Birkhead admits his daughter was initially pleased with her new look thanks in part to her love for pirates. He explains, “I got her a little pirate doll to show her that people wear patches, and it’s OK, and daddy wears a patch if he has to to show her it’s OK. I’ve been really aggressive with the patch as much as I can be. At first she was really open to it and it didn’t really bother her. Now, she’s gotten a little smart because she can pull it off, so it’s a little bit harder for me to patch her.”

If the eye patch and medication doesn’t correct the problem, Dannielynn may face surgery. Birkhead adds, “Having lost Anna and (her son) Daniel… and my dad, (who) just came out of a simple surgery and he died, it’s just tough for me to think about surgeries.”

[From Starpulse]

Despite the jokes, I’m guessing one of the reasons Larry Birkhead is publically talking about Dannielynn’s strabismus is so people know why she’s wearing the eye patch and don’t speculate about it. According to Us Weekly, Birkhead asked several doctors if the condition could have been caused by Anna Nicole’s purported drug use while pregnant with Dannielynn. All of the doctors said no, it’s just one of those things that happens.

I was always jealous of those eye patch kids when I was little. There were always one or two in every grade, and they often had something cool on their patch like a duck or a frog. And they got a lot of attention. It was almost as good as having a cast, which I saw as the ultimate status achievement of the first grade. Larry Birkhead does seem to be exposing Dannielynn to a lot of publicity. But at least he’s being attentive. Imagine how much better Paris Hilton’s life would have been if her parents had paid attention and fixed her wonky eye from the get go? She might be rich and famous by now.

Picture note by Jaybird: Larry Birkhead and Dannielynn returning to Los Angeles after spending Christmas together with Larry’s family in his hometown of Louisville, KY on January 3rd. Splash now blurs images of children’s faces. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Forbes has just released a list of the most powerful celebrity babies, based on media exposure of the last year. Which is a shame, as I was hoping it was based on super powers. Unfortunately, being the child of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt only gives you the beauty gene, not the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Hollywood’s Most Influential Babies

1. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt
2. Suri Cruise
3. Zahara Jolie-Pitt
4. Sean Preston Federline
5. Pax Jolie-Pitt
6. Sam Alexis Woods
7. David Banda Ritchie
8. Dannielynn Birkhead
9(tie). Romeo Beckham
9(tie). Cruz Beckham

Forbes

While Shiloh might have topped the list for media exposure, I’m guessing that in reality Suri is more influential. She’s got the whole cult of Scientology behind her! Head of photo agency World Entertainment News Network Jill Stempel also suggests that Suri is responsible for resuscitating Tom Cruise’s career post-couch jumping, making him more human.

Of course, in twenty years I fully expect these babies to be dating each other and getting arrested in awkward circumstances. As the Hollywood Brat Pack of 2027 I’m sure they’ll all continue to command a big media presence, but I’m not sure whether any of them will be independently successful as someone more famous than their parents. Particularly if Britney drops poor little Sean Preston on his head again. Then again, some people might have suggested that Angelina Jolie wouldn’t ever be more successful than her father John Voight, and she seems to be doing okay for herself.

Since it’s been a little over a month since we gave you an update on the Anna Nicole case, I thought it was time for a rundown. The inquest into the death of her son Daniel, 20, got under way last week. It had been postponed several times due to the legal wranglings of Howard K. Stern … and a hurricane, so they’re not all his fault. It took over a year for the inquest to actually begin. So far there haven’t been any giant revelations that make a person say a-ha, but there have been a lot of interesting tidbits. For instance, before he died, Daniel seemed fine to all the hospital personnel who came across him. Though several of them did note that they found Daniel asleep with Anna Nicole in her bed, which they found unusual.

On the second day of an inquest into the Sept. 10, 2006, death of Daniel Smith, nursing assistant Francis Woodside said the young man was sleeping in the same bed as his mother, while her attorney and partner Howard K. Stern slept in the other, about 3 hours and 40 minutes before a hospital-wide alarm that he had been found unconscious.

Woodside noted nothing unusual in the room except the sleeping arrangements. “We don’t usually have that happen, patients sleeping in the bed with relatives,” she told a jury that will decide the official cause of death and whether authorities should pursue any criminal charges.

[From the Associated Press]

That’s a little weird. Not sure what to make of it. Anna always seemed to have some pretty serious boundary issues. A part of me thinks that sounds pretty unhealthy, but the other part of me thinks it’s probably not that significant – Anna Nicole certainly did weirder things.

Another matter of note were some pills that were likely accidentally dropped by Howard K Stern. Considering a lot of people think he had something to do with Daniel’s death, it might end up being relevant.

Nurse Nadine Carey testified Tuesday that she found two round tablets on the bed that hospital employees previously said was occupied by Stern. She did not say what kind of pills they were, only that they were turned over to senior nursing staff.

Police have said there is no evidence of homicide in Daniel Smith’s death and an autopsy found the likely cause was a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants.

[From the Associated Press]

Logically I doubt that there will be much of a conclusion from the inquest or that anyone will ever know for sure if someone else [Howard K Stern cough cough] had something to do with Daniel’s death. Though everything in Anna Nicole Smith’s life was so dramatic and “movie of the week” –like that you can’t help but expect some dramatic conclusion involving Howard breaking down and confessing, then throwing himself into traffic or something. Not that I’m suggesting that.

Note by Celebitchy: In March there was a story in the National Enquirer that claimed that Daniel’s autopsy results were faked and the numbers were fudged to make it look like his death was the result of a drug interaction. According to the Enquirer, the level of methadone in his system was ten times the amount reported on the official toxicology report, pointing to death by murder or suicide.

Another member of Anna Nicole Smith’s crazy brigade of unchecked quasi-professionals is under investigation. This time it’s Smith’s psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. This was the woman who managed to make herself so indispensable to Smith that she traveled around the world with her, never leaving her side. If this only started after Smith’s son’s death, I would think that this was possibly just the most committed psychiatrist ever. But Eroshevich has been doing this for years, leaching on to Anna and her money and keeping her doped up to her liking. After Smith’s death, 11 prescriptions were found in her room that were prescribed by Eroshevich. She can be seen in a lot of videos and photos of Anna from the last few years of her life, and you can tell she’s just another one of the users.

“California Department of Justice investigators began serving search warrants Friday in connection with the death of Anna Nicole Smith, a person close to the investigation told The Associated Press. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, declined to elaborate. California Attorney General Jerry Brown was expected to make an announcement later Friday.

“The former Playboy Playmate died of an accidental drug overdose in February at a Florida hotel. She was 39. Several people close to the model have fallen under suspicion since her death, including her psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. The Medical Board of California said in April it was investigating Eroshevich, who, according to documents, authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Smith’s hotel room the day she died. Eroshevich had traveled with Smith to Florida.

“More than 600 pills, including 450 muscle relaxants, were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old, according to the documents, which were obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.”

[From the Associated Press]

“People” has a quote from one of Eroshevich’s neighbors who noted, “There were about six cars and some men walking around with … guns.” I really like the ellipses there. Adds to the drama and uncertainty, and isn’t that important when talking about guns? A rep for the DEA said that they did participate in the raid and served Eroshevich with a search warrant, but she hasn’t been arrested (yet). Anna’s other doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, is also investigation for writing a prescription for her for methadone 13 days before she gave birth. He was extra-shady, appearing in some images with Anna at a float for a gay pride event. Talk about blurring the line between doctor and patient. On the internet, he described one of his practice’s specialties as “Entertainment Medicine.” I can only assume that somehow involves celebrities, assorted drugs, balloon animals, and funny accents.