Meet Dannielynn Birkhead, daughter of Playboy’s Anna Nicole Smith: the late model – famous for marrying an 89 year old – had Dannielynn 5 months before her death, so what’s the teen up to now?
Dannielynn Birkhead, the 17-year-old daughter of late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, got all glammed up alongside her father Larry Birkhead for the 150th Kentucky Derby this past weekend.
A glamorous Dannielynn posed for photographs at the derby in a bright red gown by Badgley Mischka. Her father looked equally dapper in a light grey suit and a purple tie.
“We are having a great time,” Larry told Us Weekly on May 4. “Dannielynn is enjoying for one of [her] first years getting into the fashion of the Derby. She wore a dress that was Janet Jackson’s on Friday and got a major haircut because she wanted ‘another look’ for Derby Day.”
According to E!, the Birkheads are a regular fixture at the Kentucky Derby, the same event where Smith and Birkhead first met.
So what else do we know about Dannielynn Birkhead?
Dannielynn Birkhead’s mum, Anna Nicole Smith, was a pop culture figure
In 1994, at the height of her popularity, Smith – then 26 – married Marshall, who was 89. According to CNN, Marshall died after barely a year of marriage and did not name Smith in his will, prompting the model to embark on a legal quest to gain a portion of the tycoon’s multimillion-dollar estate. The case would last for a decade and even reached the US Supreme Court, People reports.
Dannielynn’s mum and half-brother died when she was young
Tragically, three days after Dannielynn was born, her half-brother Daniel Smith died from an accidental drug overdose. Worse, it happened while he was in the hospital visiting his mum and new baby sister, Reuters reported at the time.
Five months later, on February 8, 2007, Anna met the same fate: she was found unresponsive in her hotel room at the Hard Rock hotel in Florida, according to British media. The cause of death was decreed an accidental drug overdose. Anna was 39.
She was at the centre of a paternity case
Initially, Anna named her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, as Dannielynn’s father on the birth certificate. This was disputed by three men, according to The List: Larry Birkhead, Anna’s boyfriend; Alexander Denk, Anna’s bodyguard; and Prince Frederic von Anhalt, husband of socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor, who claimed he had an affair with Anna for 10 years.
The test would eventually reveal Birkhead as the biological father.
She was a child model for Guess and has a “regular” life
After the controversies she and her mum faced, it seems Birkhead has tried to protect his daughter from further drama, telling The Steve Harvey Show in 2016 that he was raising her to have a “normal” life. She has done one thing that’s a little starry though – just like her mum, she modelled for Guess at one point, albeit in a cute kids campaign.
She thought she was one of the richest children in America (she wasn’t)
When she was 10, Dannielynn wanted to go on a shopping spree after she saw a video that incorrectly claimed she was one of the wealthiest children in America, according to Us Weekly – leaving Birkhead to explain the reality to his disappointed daughter.
Despite reports that Dannielynn could inherit money from her mum’s late husband, J. Howard Marshall, Smith’s lawyers lost the final request to obtain money from his estate in 2014, per Us Weekly. However, Anna was still a successful entertainment personality, and reportedly left Dannielynn an estimated US$700,000.
Additional reporting by Sumnima Kandangwa
- Dannielynn Birkhead, daughter of late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, enjoyed a glamorous day out with her dad Larry Birkhead this past weekend at the 150th Kentucky Derby
- The 17-year-old had a rocky start to life, losing her half-brother at birth and her mum 5 months later – several men also claimed to be her dad before a paternity test proved it was Birkhead