GoldDigger Tribute: Anna Nicole Smith

Because no state teaches (beautiful) women how to get the cash better than Texas...


Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has turned down a plea for help from the estate of Anna Nicole Smith in a fight over a Texas oil tycoon’s fortune.

Kennedy refused Friday to lift a court order that prevents Smith’s estate from collecting $88.5 million that once belonged to billionaire oil man J. Howard Marshall II, who married Smith a year before his death in 1995.

The money has been tied up in a long-running fight between Smith and Marshall’s youngest son, E. Pierce Marshall. Both Smith and Marshall are now dead, but their estates have continued the battle.


Howard K. Stern, Smith’s lawyer-turned-boyfriend, had asked Kennedy to lift the order that was put in place by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Stern said that Smith’s 2-year-old daughter, Dannielynn, is the sole beneficiary of Smith’s estate.

Smith died of a drug overdose in 2007.

Stern, who claimed he was the girl’s father until DNA tests showed otherwise, has been charged with conspiring to give Smith thousands of prescription pills before her death.

Elaine Marshall, Pierce Marshall’s widow, had argued that the order preventing Smith’s estate from collecting the money should remain in place while the appeals court tries to sort out the tangle of competing claims.

Pierce Marshall died in 2006.

Even in death, Anna Nicole is fighting for her stake in the sweepstakes.

Don't rest in peace until you get your piece, Anna!!

Let Anna Rest In Peace. Dayum!

A judge ordered a Texas doctor and his wife on Friday not to distribute videotaped footage of Anna Nicole Smith's breast augmentation surgery in 1994.

The order settles a lawsuit filed last year by Howard K. Stern, the executor of Smith's estate, who was trying to stop Dr. Gerald Johnson and his wife from distributing the tapes of the former Playboy Playmate.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff issued preliminary injunctions against the Johnsons more than a year ago before issuing his final decision.

Stern maintained that Smith never consented to the taping or to allowing the footage to be seen by Los Angeles memorabilia dealer Thomas Riccio, who got tapes from the Johnsons, according to court records.

Johnson has said he routinely records surgeries with the patient's permission and promises to keep the video confidential "during the patient's lifetime."

He said he gave Riccio permission to use the video after Smith died of a drug overdose in February 2007 in Florida. She was 39. Riccio's daughter edited the footage into a five-minute tape, scored with music similar to the theme from the film "Jaws."

The Johnsons' Houston-based attorney, Gus Pappas, did not return a message seeking comment Friday.

Larry Birkhead, who fathered Smith's daughter, called the video "truly disgusting" in a sworn declaration issued last year.

"It was clear that Anna Nicole was unconscious during the videotaping, and even more disturbing, the videotape focused on areas of her nude body that were unrelated to the location of the surgery," he said in the declaration.

Stern's attorney, Vivian Thoreen, said all the tapes have been accounted for under the judge's previous orders. She said the other terms of the settlement are confidential.

Although the Johnsons live in Texas, the Los Angeles Superior Court still has jurisdiction because the physician allegedly tried to disseminate the tape in Los Angeles County, said attorney Bruce S. Ross, who also represents Stern.

Further proof that just when you think it can't get any sicker, it does.