Anna Nicole Smith, a postmodern pinup for a tabloid age, died of unknown causes Thursday in a Florida hotel room, her sudden death at 39 delivering the same shock and uproar as the celebrity life she cultivated from the hardscrabble dust of small-town Texas.
Smith was in her sixth-floor room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., when her private nurse called the operator for help, according to Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger, who said a bodyguard attempted CPR but could not revive her.
The former Playboy Playmate of the Year was rushed to a hospital, where she died at 2:49 p.m., sparking breathless live news coverage from the Indian reservation. The Broward County medical examiner planned to conduct an autopsy Friday.
Embroiled in an epic court feud over the hundreds of millions of dollars left behind by the octogenarian oil tycoon she married at 26 but never lived with, Smith cultivated a Marilyn Monroe image with her breathy singsong voice and va-va-voom figure. She pursued fame with a dignity-be-damned abandon, and her life unfolded in lurid headlines, tragedy and triumph in outsize measure - with so much legal drama that Smith was as likely to appear in a courtroom as a centerfold.
Her fight over the inheritance of J. Howard Marshall II took her to the U.S. Supreme Court last May. The paparazzi were waiting on the steps as Smith catwalked past in a form-fitting suit.
Smith's death came just five months after her 20-year-old son, Daniel, mysteriously died at her hospital bedside in the Bahamas, where Smith had given birth to a daughter whose paternity immediately became a matter of legal dispute.
Smith's attorney, Ron Rale, told reporters in Los Angeles that his client had not felt well in recent days, suffering from flu-like symptoms.
"I don't think anybody should have to endure what she's endured, having lost her son, people attacking her left and right," Rale said in confirming her death on MSNBC. "I felt like Anna was the underdog, having all of this thrust upon her. And she really just wanted to be a mom, and she was a good mom."
