Date:10/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/02/10/stories/2007021004581500.htm

International - Globescan

Model Smith is dead

Anna Nicole Smith

Hollywood: Anna Nicole Smith, former Playboy playmate whose bizarre life careened from marriage to an octogenarian billionaire to the untimely death of her son, died after collapsing at a Florida hotel, one of her lawyers said. Ms. Smith (39) collapsed on Thursday and was rushed to a hospital. She had been a tabloid staple even before she became Playboy playmate of the year in 1993. Readers were fascinated by her bombshell good looks, her marriage to an elderly billionaire and subsequent court fight over his estate, her weight fluctuations and the sudden death last year of her 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith. A former topless dancer, she made her name squeezing into Guess jeans. She resembled the late actress Marilyn Monroe, a similarity played up in her magazine ads, billboards and department store displays.

— AP