Anna Nicole Smith: Biography Update, Age, Personal Life, Legacy, Death, Net Worth

Vickie Lynn Marshall, born Hogan on November 28, 1967, and known as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and TV personality. She began modeling as a Playboy centerfold in May 1992 and became the 1993 Playmate of the Year. Later, she modeled for brands like Guess, H&M, and Heatherette.

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Smith became even more famous in 1994 after marrying 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall. Many speculated she married him for his money, but she denied this. After Marshall died in 1995, Smith was involved in a long legal fight over his estate that went to the Supreme Court. In the early 2000s, she was a spokesperson for TrimSpa, acted in films, and starred in her own reality show on E! called The Anna Nicole Show from 2002 to 2004.

Smith died on February 8, 2007, in Hollywood, Florida, at age 39 from combined drug intoxication.

Profile Summary

Age

Vickie Lynn Hogan was born on November 28, 1967 in Houston, Texas, U.S.

Biography

Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967, in Houston, Texas, to Virgie Tabers Arthur and Donald Eugene Hogan. She was mainly raised by her mother and family in Mexia, Texas. Smith went to Mexia High School after transferring from a Houston school, but she dropped out in 1984.

Personal life

While working at Jim’s Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Smith met Billy Wayne Smith, a cook there. They married on April 4, 1985, when he was 16 and she was 17. Their son, Daniel Wayne Smith, was born on January 22, 1986. The couple separated the next year and divorced in 1993.

In October 1991, while performing at a Houston strip club, Smith met 86-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall. They married in Houston on June 27, 1994, which led to speculation that she married him for his wealth. Marshall died in Houston on August 4, 1995, at age 90.

Court cases

In October 1994, Smith filed a $5 million lawsuit against New York magazine, saying she did not approve the use of her photo on the cover of its issue titled “White Trash Nation” and that the article hurt her reputation. The case was settled.

Although Smith was not included in Marshall’s will, she said he verbally promised her half of his estate in exchange for marriage. Most of the estate was a 16% share in Koch, Inc., then valued at $1.6 billion. Smith’s stepson, E. Pierce Marshall, challenged her claim. For a time, Smith worked with J. Howard’s other son, J. Howard Marshall III, who had been disowned after trying to take over Koch. He also said his father promised him part of the estate, but like Smith, he was left out of the will.

In 1996, Smith filed for bankruptcy in California after an $850,000 default judgment against her for sexually harassing her son’s nanny. Because any money she might receive from the Marshall estate was considered a possible asset, the bankruptcy court became involved.

In September 2000, a Los Angeles bankruptcy judge awarded Smith $449,754,134, which was the amount Marshall’s Koch shares increased in value during their marriage. But in July 2001, Houston judge Mike Wood agreed with the probate jury and ruled that Smith would get nothing. He also ordered her to pay over $1 million for E. Pierce Marshall’s legal costs. The disagreement between the Texas probate court and the California bankruptcy court sent the case to federal court.

Death

On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Her bodyguard and his wife, a registered nurse, performed CPR. Smith was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where she was pronounced dead at age 39.

Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper led the investigation with Seminole police and several independent experts. Perper said Smith died from “combined drug intoxication,” mainly due to the sleeping medication chloral hydrate. No illegal drugs were found in her system. The official report said her death was not a homicide, suicide, or from natural causes.

Legacy

Anna Nicole, an opera by Mark-Anthony Turnage about Smith, premiered at the Royal Opera House on February 17, 2011, and received mixed reviews. Smith was also the focus of the 2023 Netflix documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me. She was the subject of the biographical films The Anna Nicole Smith Story (2007), The Anna Nicole Story (2013), and Hurricanna (2025).

In 2017, Smith’s primary care doctor, Sandeep Kapoor, published a memoir called Trust Me, I’m a Doctor: My Life Before, During and After Anna Nicole Smith.

Net Worth

At the time of her death, Smith’s net worth was reported to be about $1 million.