How Anna Nicole Smith made, married and lost her millions: the late Playboy and Guess model wed an 89-year-old billionaire but was practically broke when she died, as seen on Netflix’s new documentary

May 19 , 2023

Anna Nicole Smith lived a life in the spotlight before her tragic death in 2007. Photos: Getty Images

Smith married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall when she was just 26 after meeting him during her days as an exotic dancer, but after his death she received ‘nothing’

New Netflix docu Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me aims to dispel the myths around the late model, who received a Mercedes from her late husband and once spent US$2 million on one shopping trip

Gold-digger. Money-grabber. Stripper. These are words commonly associated with model Anna Nicole Smith when she was scrutinised by the media before her death in 2007. But new Netflix documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me aims to dispel myths around the Guess model who married an 89-year-old oil tycoon when she was 26.

Anna Nicole Smith laughs during a break in court in 2000, in Houston. Photo: AP

From mild fame in the 1990s as a Playboy girl and Guess model, to infamy after she married J. Howard Marshall, much of the attention around Smith focused on money. Here’s how the late icon made it, spent it and lost it …

Anna Nicole Smith and the oil tycoon

Anna Nicole Smith poses for a photo as she arrives for the VH1 Big in ‘04 awards in 2004, in Los Angeles. Photo: AP

Smith was working as a dancer at a strip club in Houston, Texas, when she first met J. Howard Marshall. According to People, they went on their first date in 1991. Marshall was recovering from “the most tragic thing that ever happened to him” reports LA Times. Already married twice, he began an affair with dancer “Lady” Dianne Walker, but she died in 1991 of complications related to a facelift surgery. Three months later, he went to Gigi’s in Houston where he met Smith. The next day, he gave her US$1,000 in cash and she quit her job.

Despite Marshall proposing several times, it was only after Smith carved her own career as a model that she eventually said yes, also per the LA Times. Smith and Marshall married in 1994 when she was 26 and he was 89. The marriage made headlines with the actress and Playboy model being accused of being a gold-digger.

Soon, stories about her spending habits using Marshall’s card dominated the media. Texas Monthly reported that Smith once spent US$2 million on a single shopping trip in 1993. New York Magazine reported Marshall spoiled Smith with a red Mercedes, a ranch outside Houston, an NYC flat and a house in Brentwood.

The financial battle

Anna Nicole Smith cries as she testifies against E. Pierce Marshall, saying he was the cause of her husband J. Howard Marshall’s death in probate court in Houston, in 2001. Photo: AP

Although there were plenty of headlines around her marriage and spending habits, Smith remained steadfast in her proclamation that she loved her man. But in 1995, he died of pneumonia, cutting their union short. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated to be around US$2 billion, reports Celebrity Net Worth.