February 8, 2007

Anna.

R.I.P.

ADDED: I was just checking my archives to see if I'd ever written about Anna Nicole Smith. I'm sure I wrote about her Supreme Court case a couple times. (You can see at the link that she was involved in many legal controversies.) But a search for "Anna Nicole" only led me to one post, less than three months ago, titled "6,666,666":
Some people wanted to know who was the 6,666,666th visitor to this blog. Here's some info from Site Meter:
Zekstra-Informacione Tehnologije
Country : Serbia and Montenegro
City : Beograd
Referring URL http://www.google.co...n&q=ann nicole smith
Search Engine google.com
Search Words ann nicole smith
Visit Entry Page http://althouse.blog...cole-smith-case.html
Visit Exit Page http://althouse.blog...cole-smith-case.html
It does seem a little evil... just a little.
A search for just "Nicole" gets me to this post about her 20-year-old son's death and four posts about her Supreme Court case (1, 2, 3, 4). I always liked Anna Nicole. I used to watch her TV show. She was a little odd, but not evil, and really beautiful:



Goodbye, Anna.

MORE: How long do you think before the biopic goes into production? And what are the chances that the role will be played by Jessica Simpson?

48 comments:

vbspurs said...

WHAT! Oh my God. I'm in total shock.

This is so out of left field.

She was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood at 2:10 p.m. where she died, Tiger said.

The last image I have of her, is perhaps the only one in her life, where she looked dignified, and actually, quite elegant.

RIP...

Cheers,
Victoria

Revenant said...

Sounds like a drug overdose. Too bad.

AllenS said...

I'm guessing, that when the collapsed, she fell forward.

Gordon Freece said...

B.F.D.

vbspurs said...

I turned on cable news, and it's plastered all over it, as you can imagine.

You know, I'm reminded of two famous women who died under mysterious circumstances, much before their times.

One, Christina Onassis, who collapsed in her bathtub, her heart apparently giving up on her after years of amphetamine and other drugs abuse for weight loss.

She left a little daughter, aged only 3 years old, Athina.

Second, Romy Schneider, who is believed to have overdosed possibly on purpose, after her son David was found impaled on her estate's fence, when he tried to jump over it.

She never recovered, and died in circumstances and timely eerily similar to Anna Nicole Smith.

She also left a little daughter, Sarah, aged only 5.

Sarah looks amazingly like her unforgettable mum, and I wonder if Anna's little girl will one day too...

Cheers,
Victoria

Anonymous said...

allens and p.froward: Do you guys go out an p*ss on graves in your spare time?

Respect and dignity please.

AllenS said...

Bill Tim:

I have no respect for a woman who would fill the chest up with a foreign material, and claim that as her accomplishment in life. I will p*ss in your ear, if I have any spare time.

Meade said...

allens: After you finish your ear pissing, perhaps you could muster up a prayer or two for the innocent baby.

Jennifer said...

Her little girl is only 5 months old and has already lost her mother and her brother and nobody knows who her father is. Unbelievably sad.

AllenS said...

I'm not sure who will take care of the innocent baby, but, hopefully, and I pray, it will be a better person than her mother. I have however, watched this nonsense on the TV. I hate to say this, but both of the men in this woman's life, claiming that they are the father, are not good role models. This is Hollywood at its worst.

ìgbàlonígbàńlò said...

Of Pharisees and wide roads....

James 3v9 - 10 comes to mind.

Anonymous said...

igbalonigbanlo: well said.

TMink said...

I can understand thinking "so what," but I do not understand typing it. And I certainly cannot fathom the rudeness I read above.

Trey

Bissage said...

"But please don't tread on dearest Marilyn
'Cos she's not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.
"

Is Anna Nicole Smith our Marilyn? I suppose that’s for every individual to decide for his or herself.

Personally, I don't know much about ANS except that she was a celebrity and something of a bimbo.

But that's got little to do with what really matters, after all is said and done.

I hope she was a good person. I hope she was kind. I hope there's a heaven and I hope she's there, right now.

Daniel DiRito said...

To read about the tragedy surrounding Anna Nicole and her long-time adversary, E. Pierce Marshall...link here:

www.thoughttheater.com

Bruce Hayden said...

The problem is not who is going to get stuck with the kid, but rather, who is going to be able to manage the kid's rather large fortune for her. As Glenn Reynolds points out, this is going to be "the child custody case from hell."

Gordon Freece said...

William Timothy,

If the damned kittens didn't struggle so on their way into the blender, there'd be more time for the graves. And there are all those excerpts from Naked Lunch to post in the comments on Cute Overload, too. You have to establish priorities and stick with them, or all is chaos.


TMink,

Yeah, yeah, but when I posted that comment, the entire text of Ann's post was "R.I.P.", linked to a story about ANS's departure. I myself cannot fathom anybody who could pass up a thing like that: "R.I.P.", "B.F.D."; it even rhymes. You've got a right to your views, of course, however strange and reprehensible they may be, but I have to say I find them very troubling.


It's sad all around, but people who choose to live their lives like a circus act get what they ask for.

Unknown said...

And what are the chances that the role will be played by Jessica Simpson?

Not a bad choice. And the producers would do well to hire Eddie Murphy's latex man for the recreations of Ms. Smith's more, um, weighter scenes.

vbspurs said...

I myself cannot fathom anybody who could pass up a thing like that: "R.I.P.", "B.F.D."; it even rhymes.

I had to look it up, since I didn't know what it stood for.

I wish I had the courage to tell off a person (in fact, persons) who let a tribute blogthread descend into one where their viewpoints on people's lives are all important, but hey, I don't.

Woman meant nothing to me. She was a bit of a freak. But as Ann just wrote, she wasn't evil.

But sweet baby Mohammed, would it kill anyone to hold off with the carping and potshots just one damn day?

What am I saying. Folks didn't even hold off when John Paul II died, I should expect charity about this poor lady...

Cheers,
Victoria

Unknown said...

I think we can safely assume that since the the blog owner has already started talking about Jessica Simpson for the biopic, the title "tribute blogthread" is simply not accurate. Feel free to start one on your blog, though! Moderate all of us uncouth souls away!

vbspurs said...

Feel free to start one on your blog, though! Moderate all of us uncouth souls away!

If you think I'm going to bite, you don't know me that well, still.

Cheers,
Victoria

Tibore said...

"But sweet baby Mohammed, would it kill anyone to hold off with the carping and potshots just one damn day?"

Amen, Victoria. I didn't care much for her in life either - thought she was too garish a celebrity for me to care about - but that hardly motivates me to make disparaging remarks about her in death. It's a tragedy; whether self-wrought (did she OD?) or not (was this some medical condition the public didn't know about?) it's just a tragedy. Which is why I'm stuffing the Anna Nicole jokes away in a for a few months; this is not the time for them. She's still a human being, after all.

Revenant said...

I have no respect for a woman who would fill the chest up with a foreign material, and claim that as her accomplishment in life.

Her accomplishment in life is that she recognized her strengths (looks) and weaknesses (not much in the way of brains, education, or family connections), chose a career she could be successful at, and was quite successful at it. Breast implant surgery was not the accomplishment; it was a step towards the actual accomplishment of being a national sex symbol.

She wasn't a war hero or a brilliant scientist or anything, but she did what she could with what she had to work with and didn't hurt other people in the process. That isn't a bad epitaph, really.

vbspurs said...

Which is why I'm stuffing the Anna Nicole jokes away in a for a few months; this is not the time for them.

Well. :)

My harrumphing was not specifically about jokes, or Jessica Simpson allusions. Obviously, we're here to chat about stuff.

Before I was so RUDELY interrupted in my bible-thumping high dudgeon, I was going to ask my fellow Althousians if they recall Anna Nicole Smith's comedic turn in:

Naked Gun 33 1/3 The Final Insult

The Final Insult. There is a God...

But now, having been cast as head mourner, and general dogsbody of the Anna Nicole Smith Althouse Appreciation Society, all I can do is gravely note that she sure looked awesome in this film, remember?

She had on a super-tight nurse's uniform, as she collected Leslie Nielsen's jizz sample, when he went to the Sperm Bank.

I don't remember why he went, but it was funny as all get out.

And let's not forget the "reveal" scene, in a parody of the Crying Game, which had "her" manly boner silhouetted against a sheet, 'causing Mr. Nielsen to upchuck (I think they had locked lips earlier).

BTW, she won the Razzie that year for Worst New Star. :)

Nonetheless, for a white trash ex-stripper from Texas who parlayed a Jayne Mansfield hot bod, Marilyn Monroe curves and shimmy, and the train-wreck life of Dana Plato, into fame and fortune, the girl done good.

As an aside, I just found out her real name was spelt Vickie, which reminded me of my "whores and participants in Elimi-a-Date" sarky comment earlier in the day.

I'm hardly one to talk about sensitivity and crap.

Although I can talk about wine and cheese if anyone is interested.

Cheers,
Victoria

Doug said...

I have been suffering a bit of insomnia the past week, so I have been watching Entertainment Tonight reruns at 4:30 AM. They have been interviewing her a lot, and she did not look good recently.

Her face looked thin, yet also puffy, as if she was recovering from plastic surgury. Her boyfriend/attorney, the other Howard Stern, came off like a real piece of scum in these interviews.

I wonder if E will rerun her reality show to capitalize on this.

chuck b. said...

It feels like reading a novel where the lead character gets killed in the middle of the book. I thought there'd be more to her story than this. Maybe she's not the central character after all.

Everyone I work with thinks the lawyer/husband poisoned her and her son to gain total control of the money. Wouldn't that be awesome! So dark and ironic.

Is the kid his or not? I guess we'll find out.

vbspurs said...

Psst. Now THIS is bad taste.

There is a bidding war on a videotape which purports to show the last minutes of Anna Nicole Smith's life.

The bidding war has it up to $250,000 so far, which this site says is confirmed by Fox News.

This reminds me that I recently saw a death photo of JFK Jr quite by chance on a website (poor guy). And it also reminds me of Dale Earnhardt's widow suing one of the psycho tabloids over showing his autopsy photos in their rag.

Sigh. Whatever.

Fighting against these impulses to exploit a person's death, is almost a losing cause today, especially at the media level.

They'll just point that her life was an open book, and she made $$ out of it when alive, and though they have a point, it just feels smarmy and unfeeling.

Cheers,
Victoria

J. Cricket said...

Really beautiful?!

This explains a lot about you, Ann.

Gordon Freece said...

vbs,

"Didn't hurt other people in the process" sounds debatable to me. She doesn't appear to have done a great job of looking after her kids, for example. It seems that one of them OD'd last year? Lots of kids OD and die at age 20, of course, but it's a lot less common among kids who have a halfway normal, healthy home life.

Flopping over dead at age 39 is something most people have to work pretty hard at, too. It's your own business, if you have no kids, but she did have a kid, who's now an orphan.

And God only knows what lunacy she brought into the lives of the family of that old guy she married.

She wasn't evil, I'm sure, but you could make a case for "destructively irresponsible".

I mean, I'm not saying I'm glad she's dead or anything, and I'm willing to be convinced I've misjudged her.

In any case, I make no excuses. I would've been precisely as callous if she'd been a useless human disaster who could be proven to have harmed only herself.

In any case the bidding war over the last-minutes videotape is disgusting.

Brian said...

Bill Tim,

I'd venture to say that you have little respect for yourself, and about zero people respect you. That's established well-nigh conclusively on the evidence of your morally repulsive malice and hostility toward a model who just died.

Anna Nicole Smith had her faults. Like Marylin Monroe, she was intoxicated too frequently.

But she was interesting, and pretty, and sometimes gay (in the pre-1970's meaning of that word.) These are natural virtues, possessed by a woman who is now criticized by a zero, called Bill Tim.

chuck b. said...

But at least she died thin.

Dave said...

'll admit I don't understand the sentiment or attachment people have for celebrities.

I'll further admit that one of the primary reasons I do not watch TV is I refuse to have my time consumed by either narcissism or ephemera.

That said, I can't understand being either cavalier or snide about her death.

ploopusgirl said...

um, Brian, dearest... "Bill" Tim isn't the one who's been showing hostility to a dead model.. he's kind of the one who's been hostile to the people who've been hostile to her... just so you know!!! smiles! cheers!! eppuhs!!!

Anonymous said...

Brian: Please reread my comments. I showed hostility to those who didn't respect the dead. I ask for an apology from you.

Secondly, the name isn't "Bill Tim". This was the way that allens chose to mock me for daring suggest that he demonstrate a bit of respect to the recently deceased.

You are free to address me anyway you wish, I suppose. I have treated others with dignity. I hope you will return the favor.

Unknown said...

you don't know me that well, still.

Ain't that the truth. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how reminiscing about boners and jizz is actually some sort of honorable thing to be separated from those of us taking a potshot or two.

vbspurs said...

I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how reminiscing about boners and jizz is actually some sort of honorable thing to be separated from those of us taking a potshot or two.

My dear boy. The difference is HUGE. Just HUGE.

It's the difference between two neighbourhood battleaxes leaning over their kitchen tables dishing the dirt about the slut who just died next door, and the housemaid eavesdropping, who thinks the slut was a bit of an all right, if rather barmy, bless her soul.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go dust the mantlepiece.

Night,
Victoria

bill said...

John Wesley Harding's People Love to Watch You Die
[link to audio]

People love to watch you die
And wonderful to tell
People you have never met
Claim to know you well
People love to watch you die
Dig your dignity
One guy said 'he's better dead
Than how he used to be'
They'll sell the souvenirs
And the relics of your tears
They build a little shrine, wait until it shines
They love to watch you die and you know why

People love to watch you die
It gets them sexually
And then they smoke a cigarette
And make a cup of tea
People love to watch you fry
They love to throw the switch
They'll either have you crucified
Or burn you as a witch
They send bouquets of flowers
And then stare at space for hours
They build a little shrine, wait until it shines
They love to watch you die and you know why

People love to watch you die
Then give your family hell
They call it grief but it's just a relief
And they know that full well
People love to watch you drown
The symbol's what they need
They'd rather not see you at all
Than watch your hair recede
And just to watch your pain
They'd bring you back to life again
They build a little shrine, sing you Auld Lang Syne
They love to watch you die and you know why

MadisonMan said...

What revenant said. The Widow Anna Nicole Smith was very very good at what she did.

And I agree that her lawyer husband is the President of Sleaze, Incorporated. My opinion has always been that he married her so he wouldn't be called to testify in her son's death.

TMink said...

P. forward wrote: "You've got a right to your views, of course, however strange and reprehensible they may be, but I have to say I find them very troubling."

First, thanks for taking the time to respond to my ideas. I guess I am a little lost as to what is reprehensible or strange about feeling some sadness that someone died. I am not an ANS fan, but I find her death at 39 sad. Especially when I consider her 5 month old child. What is troubling about that sympathy?

I can understand it being strange and troubling that she was such a part of our culture. We agree there. But the rest escapes me. What am I missing?

Trey

amba said...

Well, she's with Daniel now, whatever you think that means.

We need to coin a new word: "Trashedy."

- amba

vbspurs said...

Uh, OK.

LOL! That was great comedic timing, mcg.

Cheers,
Victoria

Charlie Eklund said...

Ann is correct; Anna Nicole Smith was beautiful. Remarkably so. I saw her once, in person, back in her Butterfield 8 days. It was, quite simply, amazing.

If you're interested, I wrote about it here:

http://journals.aol.com/ceklundesq/TheOtherShoe/entries/2007/02/08/anna-nicole-smith-1967-2007/1815

chickelit said...

Annie said:

"We need to coin a new word: '"Trashedy.'"

I believe the word already exists-
Foster Brooks coined it.

Tibore said...

"Before I was so RUDELY interrupted in my bible-thumping high dudgeon"

Oh... shoot. Sorry Victoria. Didn't know you were getting a good scold on. I'll get outta the way so you can start swingin' 'stead of just thumpin' that bible.

;)

Suzie Nolen Bennett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suzie Nolen Bennett said...

You think she was beautiful?

In recent pics she looked more like Michael Jackson every day. Fake boobs, teeth, lips, chin, nose, too much tanning, hair extensions... what of her physique was authentic?

Is that what passes for "beautiful?"

amba said...

Chickenlittle -- re "trashedy," you may be right, but Googling Foster Brooks and "trashedy" turns up nothing. Googling "trashedy" alone turns up a band by that name in the UK that's very popular in Germany.

If the word already exists, it's time to roll it out wide.

- amba

Pat Patterson said...

If Hollywood can cast the vertically challenged Jennifer Love Hewitt as the title character in The Audrey Hepburn Story then who knows what other munchkin will be used to represent the 5'11" Anna Nicole Smith?