Kathy Willens / AP
The announcement of Anna Nicole Smith's death Thursday after collapsing in her room at Florida's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel was perhaps not a surprising end for the former Playboy Playmate, Guess? jeans model and reality-TV star. Born in Houston as Vickie Lynn Hogan in 1967, Smith rose from being an unknown waitress to a topless dancer to a top model who could dominate headlines with antics both titillating and bizarre. Smith was most recently struggling with the death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Wayne Smith, only three days after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn, in September 2006. She faced a paternity suit challenging whether her lawyer Howard K. Stern or her ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead is the new baby's father. The cause of Smith's death is still unknown, but she was pronounced dead within minutes of her arrival at the Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., on Feb. 8.
