What happened to Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel?
Daniel Smith passed away at the age of 20 while visiting his mother in the Bahamas, and his story features in new documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me.
Netflix is looking into the life, death and secrets of American model, actress and television personality Anna Nicole Smith in a brand new documentary.
Using never-before-seen footage and interviews with people close to the late star, Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me will follow the model's life from the beginning of her career as a Playboy magazine centrefold in May 1992 to the moment of her passing when she was found unresponsive at a hotel in Florida in 2007, aged 39.
It will also look at the many loves of Anna's life, including her second marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J Howard Marshall in 1994, as well as exploring the lives of her two children Dannielynn Birkhead and Daniel Wayne Smith, the latter of who passed away at the age of 20.
So, what exactly happened to Daniel Wayne Smith? As the film comes to Netflix, read on for everything you need to know about Anna Nicole Smith's son.
What happened to Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel?
Daniel Wayne Smith was the son of Anna Nicole Smith (real name Vickie Lynn Hogan) and Billy Wayne Smith. He was born on 22nd January 1986, and after his parents separated in 1993, Daniel was raised by his mother and maternal grandmother, Virgie Arthur, in Texas until the age of six.
He was the stepson of J Howard Marshall II, whom his mother met at a strip club and married in 1994.
At the age of 16, Daniel appeared as himself in his mother's reality TV show, The Anna Nicole Show. It ran from 2002 to 2004. However, in the second season, he revealed that he no longer wanted to appear on the series. He also played roles in two of his mother's films – Skyscraper and To the Limit.
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On 10th September 2006, Daniel, who was 20 at the time, passed away while visiting his mother at the maternity ward in Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. She had given birth to his half-sister Dannielynn Birkhead three days before.
Cyril Wecht, an American forensic pathologist, at the time said that Daniel had accidentally overdosed on methadone and antidepressants. Testifying at an inquest into his death, Dannielynn's father Larry Birkhead claimed that Daniel had stolen his mother's methadone, used the drugs with her, and lost a lot of weight prior to death.
On 12th September 2006, Her Majesty's Coroner then announced that Daniel's cause of death was "not natural" and declared a toxicology examination would take place. According to attorney Michael Scott, Daniel's death caused his mother so much grief that she "experienced memory loss of the event".
"Anna Nicole was so distraught at the loss of Daniel that she refused to leave his side and it was necessary to sedate her in order to check her out of the hospital," he added.
Almost one week later, on 20th September 2006, authorities issued a death certificate for Daniel but left the cause of death undetermined. An inquest, in the Bahamas, into the death of Daniel started in October 2007, and in March 2008 it was determined by a jury that Daniel died from an accidental drug overdose.
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me airs on Netflix on Tuesday 16th May. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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