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- Where is Anna Nicole Smith's daughter Dannielynn Birkhead today? Here's everything we know about the now 16-year-old who's the spitting image of her mom.
Where is Anna Nicole Smith's daughter Dannielynn Birkhead today? Here's everything we know about the now 16-year-old who's the spitting image of her mom.
Esme Mazzeo
- Anna Nicole Smith's daughter had lost her mom and older brother to drug overdoses by 5 months old.
- Dannielynn Birkhead was also at the center of a paternity battle as an infant.
Anna Nicole Smith announced she was pregnant with her second child in June 2006.
In 2006, former Playboy and Guess model Anna Nicole Smith was seeking refuge from the spotlight in the Bahamas when she announced her second pregnancy via her website. She didn't indicate who the child's father was at the time.
Smith gave birth to her daughter, who she named Dannielynn, on September 7, 2006 while still in the Bahamas. At the time of Dannielynn's birth, Smith's lawyer Howard K. Stern was listed as the baby's father on the birth certificate. He maintained his paternity claim in subsequent interviews.
Smith's 20-year-old son Daniel died three days after Dannielynn's birth.
On September 10, 2006, Dannielynn's older brother Daniel died while on a trip to visit his mother and newborn sister in the Bahamas. He was 20 years old.
"Anna Nicole is absolutely devastated by the loss of her son. He was her pride and joy and an amazing human being. Please do not make any press inquiries at this time so that Anna Nicole can grieve in peace," Smith said in a statement posted to her website at the time, per People.
His cause of death was later determined to be an accidental drug overdose, according to Reuters.
Smith died in February 2007.
Less than five months after her son's death, Smith collapsed in a Florida hotel room and was rushed to the hospital. She died there on February 8, 2007. She was 39 years old.
Her cause of death was later determined to be an accidental drug overdose.
A paternity test established that photographer Larry Birkhead was Dannielynn's biological father in April 2007.
After a legal battle with Stern that lasted for months, a DNA test proved that photographer Larry Birkhead was Dannielynn's father.
"I hate to be the one who told you this, but: I told you so," Larry said in a press conference outside of a courthouse in the Bahamas in April 2007, according to People. "I'm the father."
Stern had custody of the baby girl at the time. People reported that Stern hugged Birkhead at the press conference after the matter was settled. "We're gonna do what we can to make sure that the best interests of Dannielynn are carried out," Stern said, per People. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that he gets sole custody."
Birkhead chose to raise Dannielynn in Kentucky, where he first met Smith.
Birkhead is a Louisville, Kentucky native and chose to raise his daughter in his home state.
He met Smith at the Kentucky Derby in 2003, so he takes Dannielynn there every year.
Over the years, Birkhead has given the media glimpses into his life with Dannielynn.
Birkhead allowed Entertainment Tonight cameras into his home in Kentucky when Dannielynn was five years old, in 2012. During a tour of the house, viewers learned that Dannielynn loved makeup and Justin Bieber. According to the segment, she'd also pretend to apply makeup to an image of her mother that was etched in stone on the floor of their home.
Dannielynn modeled for Guess in 2013, following in her mom's footsteps.
A three-year deal with Guess first launched Smith into the spotlight. And when Dannielynn was six years old in 2012, Birkhead allowed his daughter to follow in her mom's footsteps with a modeling job for Guess Kids.
"Dannielynn has always looked up to her mom's image and … I think that this is kind of Dannielynn's way of paying tribute to her mom in her own special way," Birkhead said in an interview with "Good Morning America," per ABC News.
"To see her mom's picture next to hers as a Guess girl and say, 'Hey, I was a Guess Kids girl, my mommy was a Guess girl,' that might be her only connection with her mom," he continued, according to ABC News.
"Dannielynn has the same playful spirit that her mother had on set," said Guess creative director Paul Marciano in a statement to People in 2013.
The public kept up with Dannielynn's growth largely through her appearances at the Kentucky Derby every year.
In a 2017 interview with Inside Edition, Birkhead opened up about how he tries to ensure his daughter lives a normal life.
Birkhead commented on trying to shield his daughter from news reports (and erroneous information online) about the legal battle between Smith's estate and the estate of Smith's late husband, oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall, which would determine whether Dannielynn would receive any money from Marshall's estate.
"We saw a video on YouTube that she was one of the ten richest kids in America," Birkhead told Inside Edition. "Then she wanted to go to the mall. And I'm like, 'No, it's not that. Trust me, it's not that.'"
According to Inside Edition, Smith's lawyers lost their last legal move to get money from the late oil tycoon's estate in 2014, seven years after Smith's death.
Birkhead said that Dannielynn is called the "people's princess" in the Bahamas, where she was born.
During a trip to the Bahamas with Dannielynn and Us Weekly in 2018, Birkhead said that his then-11-year-old was known as the "people's princess" of the island.
"When Dannielynn was little and I used to bring her here, the people used to come out screaming, 'The people's princess Dannielynn is here,' cause it was such a big deal about her birth here, and they embrace her and they come up and ask for pictures and stuff all the time," Birkhead told Us Weekly.
He also took her to see the courthouse that determined her paternity.
Over the years, Dannielynn's never been afraid to take fashion risks at the Derby.
For her sweet 16 in 2022, Dannielynn got Kiss tickets and a puppy.
Dannielynn turned 16 in September 2022. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she revealed she got concert tickets to see Kiss and a puppy from her dad.
Of course, the father and daughter also attended the Kentucky Derby once again on May 6, 2023.
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