To put it simply, Birkhead wants to keep the best part of Anna Nicole’s legacy intact for their daughter and protect Dannielynn as much as is humanly possible, not just from a fate resembling her mom’s, but from the pitfalls of the wrong kind of media exposure.
Smith’s pop culture legacy, meanwhile, has obviously been more than that of a striking model-actress-reality-star who died too young. Her story had so many stranger-than-fiction twists, it proved ripe for the retelling, be it via TV movies like 2007’s Anna Nicole Smith StoryStarring Willa Ford 2013. Anna Nicole on Lifetime; the 2011 opera Anna Nicole; or the 2012 documentary Addict to FameThis video contains disturbing footage that was compiled during the production of Illegal aliens.
But for the better part of a decade there was an audience that had no idea what to do with Smith when she was alive, that only sat back and watched her decline, not knowing what it was exactly that they were watching, and probably figuring that nothing truly bad would happen in the end. But Anna Nicole Smith’s tale didn’t end in a happy way. It is a warning sign that you can always find a person who’s real behind that lens.
Birkhead stated that Anna’s personality was “almost like a split personality.” “Because the camera was rolling, she looked completely different… that was more an act than she was, the real Anna.”
Published originally Tuesday, November 28th 2017, 5 a.m. PT.)