Her untimely death came after a horrific personal tragedy

SHE is known as the fame-hungry star who fought a desperate battle for her 90-year-old husband’s billions before dying from a drug overdose at 39.

But, from the moment she was born,  Anna Nicole Smith’s story was one of cruel betrayal and devastating tragedy.

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Anna’s boob job left her hooked on painkillersCredit: Rex Features

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Anna and her 89-year-old husband Howard Marshall wed in 1994Credit: Rex

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Margot Robbie in the running for the lead role in the new filmCredit: Getty
She claimed she was “beaten and whipped” by her mother, locked in an abusive teen marriage and estranged from a dad who tried to BED her when they met – before battling a lifetime of addiction.

She also suffered the heartbreaking death of her 20-year-old son just three days after the birth of her daughter – before her own fatal overdose in 2007.

Now, Anna’s story will be told in a new Hollywood blockbuster amid rumours Barbie star Margot Robbie will play the centrefold legend.

TV producer and close friend of Anna’s, Patrik Simpson, claims the film will reveal the secrets Anna asked her best friends to “promise” to tell the world.

Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in the small Bible-belt town of Mexia, Texas, Anna was raised by her police officer mum and stepdad.

She would later claim her mum, Virgie, was a tyrant, and she was subjected to “beatings, whippings and rape” throughout her childhood.

Virgie has dismissed the allegations as “lies” and claims her daughter once told her: “I make more money ­telling sad stories than I make telling good stories.”

Although Anna said she was never popular at school because she was ‘flat-chested’, Virgie has previously claimed: “She loved being the centre of attention. We would go to the mall and there would be 50 men and boys walking behind us.”

At 17, she dropped out of high-school, marrying local boy Billy Wayne Smith, her colleague at Jim’s Krispy Fried Chicken, when she was just 17.

But she claimed he was abusive, locking her in their home when he went to work.

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Anna with her son Daniel at an awards showCredit: Getty

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Anna left her first husband after Daniel was bornCredit: Getty

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The star idolised Marilyn MonroeCredit: AP:Associated Press
After giving birth to their son Daniel in 1986, Anna fled her marriage and started working in a strip club in Houston.

It was here she met her close friend, Melissa ‘Missy’ Byrum, who said Anna began making serious money “right off the bat”, with punters tucking thousands into her thong.

Opening up in the Netflix documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me, her close pal revealed that they also had a romance.

“I was her first female lover,” she says. “I was really in love with her.”

Feverishly obsessed with another troubled American icon, Marilyn Monroe, Anna’s insecurities over her appearance led her to get a boob job, which proved so painful she took Valium to cope.

Tragically, drawing dark parallels with her heroine, the operation sent Anna spiralling towards drug addiction

Missy said: “You’re watching this person that you love morph into this egotistical monster, a full-blown drug addict.

“My friend that loved me wasn’t there any more. There was no compassion. So I quit. We were done.”

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Billy Smith and Anna Nicole were teenage newlywedsCredit: Akhtar Hussein

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Anna in a mugshot after a 1989 arrest from drunk drivingCredit: Houston Police

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Playboy was the break that helped Anna become a starCredit: Playboy

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Anna’s big break was marred by the encounter with her dadCredit: Getty

Anna Nicole Smith and Marilyn Monroe similarities

Anna’s life tragically mirrored Marilyn’s…

At just five years old Anna’s obsession with the American model began
At her Playboy photo-shoot she brought a Marilyn record with her and danced to it
Marilyn posed for naked pictures while trying to make her way in Hollywood
Both star’s had difficult childhoods and similar trajectories with drugs
Marilyn was also estranged from her father and fantasised about tracking him down before donning a black wig and flirting with him in a bar
Anna died at 39 and Marilyn died at 36, both deaths were caused by drug overdose

As Anna pursued her relentless quest for fame, she sent naked pictures of herself to Playboy in 1992 and, a year later, was named Playboy’s Playmate of the Year.

But Playboy picture editor Marilyn Grabowski revealed she found the model sitting in the corner, shaking with fear and wrapped in a sheet during the LA shoot.

Tapping into her Marilyn Monroe obsession, Anna had brought along a record of Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.

Marilyn Grabowski says: “I put that music on and all of a sudden she changed. She was a different person.”

Dark dad encounter

Abandoned as a baby by her father, Donald Hogan, Anna was so desperate to reconnect she hired a private investigator to track him down, before inviting him to a party to celebrate her Playboy success.

But Donald Hogan was a monster, who had already served jailtime for raping Anna’s aunt when she was just a baby, as well as a teenage girl.

Half brother Donnie, who joined Anna and Hogan at the party, told the documentary: “I wanted Vickie to know the truth.

“My father is not a type of guy you want to be alone with or feel safe [with]. You’re not gonna feel safe.”

Sickeningly, on the night of the party, Anna later claimed, her father tried to bed her.

“She told me that her father had tried to have sex with her,” Missy claimed.

“I was really sad to see that. She was so, so disappointed.”

However her half-brother Donnie denied the claims: “He assaulted her? That would be like him. But is it true? It couldn’t be. I was there every step of the way.”

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Anna’s life was plagued by addiction

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Anna’s dark past led to drug addictionCredit: Rex Features

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The former Playmate was often intoxicated on her reality showCredit: Splash News

‘Gold-digger’ battle 

As her fame soared, Anna bagged a lucrative contract with Guess Jeans, where she was dubbed the new ­Claudia Schiffer, and starred in films including Naked Gun 33 & A Third.

And a year after her horror reunion with her father, Anna – then aged 26 – married  89-year-old billionaire oil tycoon J Howard Marshall, who she first met in the Houston strip club.

She moved into his six-bedroom mansion in Cypress, Texas, which came equipped with stables, a basketball court, pool and a guest house – and would soon become a major part of a decade-long lawsuit.

The wheelchair-bound billionaire’s phone recordings later revealed Anna’s unhealthy drug problem and how little she recalled from their conversations.

In one, Howard begs her to call him, saying: “I love you. I’m trying to find you.”

When she finally picks up, sounding groggy, she tells him to talk to her tomorrow, as “I won’t remember tonight”.

The star also admitted she didn’t have a physical love for Howard, but explained he gave her things beyond money that she’d never had before.

After just 13 months of marriage, 90-year-old Howard died, leaving no mention of his younger wife in his will, but Anna claimed he had promised her half his £1.3billion fortune.

The death sparked a fierce legal battle with Howard’s son Pierce, as a court heard she had frittered away at least £10million of Howard’s cash.

As Anna explained: “It’s very expensive to be me.”

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The model was called out as a gold-digger after marrying the billionaireCredit: Mega
The fight was so bitter, the pair even hosted separate funerals and split Howard’s ashes.

Anna later lost the battle for Howard’s fortune and consequently filed for bankruptcy.

She began dating her lawyer, Howard K Stern, and signed for a reality TV show for E!, The Anna Nicole Smith Show, in a desperate bid for cash.

Although her death certificate will list a different cause – an accidental overdose – in my mind, I think she truly died of a broken heart

Larry Birkhead
But talk show host Jon Stewart labelled the show an abomination for frequently showing Anna under the influence of substances, without offering any help.

During this turbulent time, Anna also suffered from eating disorders and forced herself to live on a diet of drugs and diet pills.

Birth and death

There was more controversy when Anna got pregnant in 2005, sparking a bizarre paternity battle between four men.

As well as Howard, ­former bodyguard Alexander Denk claimed to be the dad, and in a weird twist, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ­husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, said he had had a decade-long affair with her.

Photographer Larry Birkhead was later proved to be the dad of Dannielynn, now 16, and won custody.

Tragically, three days after she gave birth to Dannielynn, in September 2006, her 20-year-old son Daniel died of an overdose – while visiting her in hospital.

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Her daughter was born just days before her son’s deathCredit: Entertainment Tonight

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Dannielynn has been brought up by dad LarryCredit: ABC
The tragic event was the final push that sent the troubled star over the edge.

Just five months later, in February 2007, she was found dead in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida from an accidental overdose.

Dannielynn’s father Larry Birkhead, said: “Although her death certificate will list a different cause – an accidental overdose – in my mind, I think she truly died of a broken heart.”

Missy added: “She told me all the time that she was going to die young. I should have believed it.”

Fashion designer, Pol’ Atteu, who is helping write the new film about Anna’s life, said: “Deep in my heart, I knew after Daniel had died, that my friend had gone.

“I never saw the willingness to want to live.”

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The model struggled with her weight for yearsCredit: Splash News