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Remembering Anna Nicole Smith

Model rose from Krispy Fried Chicken waitress to oil baron's wife

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Remembering Anna Nicole Smith

FEBRUARY 8--While awaiting police and autopsy reports regarding today's death of Anna Nicole Smith, we're reprising portions of a court ruling that offers a detailed account of the late model's life, from her days as a waitress at Krispy Fried Chicken to her marriage to an aged oil baron. The March 2002 ruling was issued by a Los Angeles federal judge handling Smith's lawsuit seeking a piece of the estate of husband J. Howard Marshall, who died in 1995 at age 90. Smith, the 1993 Playboy Playmate of the Year, met Marshall in 1991 at Gigi's strip club in Houston, where she was dancing. In his ruling, an excerpt of which you'll find below, Judge David Carter described Smith as an often-depressed Marilyn Monroe wannabe whose 'illiteracy is striking.' Carter also noted that while Smith 'detested' being thought of as a gold-digger, her 'actions leave little doubt that money was the central facet' of her relationship with Marshall. During a deposition cited by Carter, Smith recalled her first meeting with Marshall. The rickety billionaire, Smith said, 'looked terrible, he looked like he had lost his will to live.' While she danced for the recently widowed Marshall, the octogenarian tried to grab her breasts. 'Thus began J. Howard's aggressive pursuit' of Smith, Carter wrote. Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan in 1967. (11 pages)