- The father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter has criticized a new film about the late model's life.
- "I did not want my daughter in a overwhelmingly poorly reviewed cesspool of a project," he told ET.
Larry Birkhead, the father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, has explained why he and his daughter chose not to appear in the new documentary, "Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me."
According to Netflix's description, the documentary offers a "humanizing examination of the life, death, and secrets" of the Playboy model and reality television star who tragically died from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 39 in 2007.
However, Birkhead strongly disagrees.
"We declined to participate as I did not want my daughter in a overwhelmingly poorly reviewed cesspool of a project about her Mother, where some people were allowed to invent things and rewrite history," he told Entertainment Tonight on behalf of himself and 16-year-old Dannielynn.
He added that he is "looking forward to a true definitive Anna Nicole project where her truth can be heard from her own perspective and by those that truly knew her the best."
He called the two-hour documentary, which was directed by BAFTA-nominated documentarian Ursula Macfarlane, "another 'wash, rinse, and repeat' Anna Nicole project."
"Anna truly deserved better and that day will come," he added.
Birkhead and Macfarlane did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Birkhead, a former entertainment photographer, told the Daily Mail met Smith in 2003 at the Kentucky Derby — an event that Birkhead and his daughter continue to attend to this day.
The exact nature of Smith and Birkhead's relationship, and how long it lasted, has always been unclear, but Birkhead recently told the Daily Mail that several months after they met again at the Derby in 2004, Smith asked Birkhead to move in with her in her Los Angeles home to be her "personal photographer." According to Birkhead, the two then lived together "for two-and-a-half years," at which point Smith became pregnant.
"We were living together and doing baby planning. We were picking out names for our baby," Birkhead told the Daily Mail. "Despite what anyone says, Anna knew I was the father," he added.
But when Smith gave birth to Dannielynn in September 2006, she publicly claimed that the child's father was Howard K. Stern, her longtime attorney
Mitchell Olsen, one of the documentary's participants, claimed that Smith chose to give birth to her daughter in the Bahamas because of one of the Caribbean country's "interesting legalities" which means that those named and signed on birth certificates are legally considered a child's parents.
As such, following Smith's sudden death in February 2007, Stern assumed custody of Dannielynn, kicking off a paternity battle between Stern and Birkhead. However, after a DNA test took place, it was determined that Birkhead was Dannielynn's biological father and he was granted sole custody.
However, Stern is still a part of Dannielynn's life. As Birkhead told E! News earlier this month, Stern "gives advice and reaches out" to them. "Some people may think it's weird, but he's a good friend and has been real supportive," Birkhead told E! News.