Source: www.celebritysmackblog.com

Larry Birkhead has testified in the inquest regarding the death of Anna Nicole’s son, Daniel Smith.

Birkhead testified that Daniel may have stole drugs from Anna and that his bizarre behavior had escalated before his death.

He stated that Daniel and some friends stole methadone from Anna at her home in April 2006. He said that Daniel was caught after Anna had checked surveillance cameras and discovered her son was the culprit.

Birkhead made statements to police in 2006 that Anna, Daniel and Howard K. Stern (who testifies today) had all smoked pot together. But when asked about it under oath he claimed he wasn’t sure that’s exactly what he saw. Rigghhhtt.

He also told cops in 2006 that Anna gave Daniel the drug Ecstasy, but once again on the stand Birkhead said he didn’t recall for sure. Uh-huh.

Birkhead added that between January and May of 2006 he witnessed marked changes in Daniel’s behavior. He claims he saw Daniel throw a TV through a window. He also said that it was common for Daniel to be out all night long with Anna at home worrying.

Another example of kids growing up to follow in their parents footsteps. Anna set the example and her child followed. It’s pretty cut and dry. If only she could have gotten her sh*t together she may have saved both their lives.

Source

Source: www.celebitchy.com

Source: www.celebitchy.com

Larry Birkhead brought his 17 month-old daughter, Dannielynn, to the grave site of her mother, the infamous departed Anna Nicole Smith, in the Bahamas yesterday for the first anniversary of her death. He just happened to dress the tot in her finest and bring along a television crew. The touching moment when Dannielynn whispered “momma” and laid a pink toy on the grave of the mother she’ll only know from videos and photos was captured for the benefit of the curious masses and will be broadcast on Entertainment Tonight.

February 5, 2008 (Los Angeles, CA)– ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT’s JANN CARL was exclusively with Larry Birkhead and daughter Dannielynn this week in Nassau, Bahamas as the 17-month-old made her first trip back to visit her mother and brother’s graves, one year after her mother’s sudden death.

In an a multi-part interview to begin airing on Wednesday, February 6th, Birkhead says the visit is difficult for him, but he arranged it for his daughter, “It’s tough. Even though she doesn’t understand, it was important for us to come. One day I can tell her that we went to visit her mom.” When they arrived at the unmarked gravesites, Dannielynn placed a pink toy turtle on Anna Nicole’s plot and whispered, “mama.”

On why the graves of Anna Nicole and Daniel are without tombstones, Birkhead says, “A rough draft came back with a sketch of a picture I didn’t care for. I could just hear her hitting me over the head saying, ‘Why did you let that picture go down!?’” Birkhead reveals that the design of the headstone will be “so grand and big. It’s going to encompass Daniel’s stone too.”
When asked how he feels about making the journey from Los Angeles to Nassau, Birkhead speaks candidly, “I don’t like the fact that they’re here, I never did. I know that Daniel didn’t want to be here and I know that his mother was only here because of what was going on between us with the paternity question. To me it feels really odd.” On if he has considered moving the graves, he says, “I’m going to leave the decision to Dannielynn when she’s older. It would probably be very hard, if not impossible to take both of them and I definitely don’t want to separate them.”

In an effort to keep Anna’s memory alive for their daughter, Birkhead tells ET, “I keep a lot of memories around. I quiz her and she knows Mama. I say, ‘Where’s Mama?’ and she’ll give Mama a kiss on the picture.”

[ET press release via Gossip Rocks]

What I want to know is - how are they going to spread this out into a multi-part interview? She’s dead, it’s hard, your daughter doesn’t understand, end of story. I mean you feel for people’s pain but what else is there to say?

Part of me doesn’t want to hate on Birkhead. The guy is a former paparazzo who really does care about his daughter and fought hard to win custody of her. He’s also obviously not adverse to using his daughter to make a buck and he’s probably running low on cash now that his deals are drying up and he has all those legal bills he’s contesting. (It seemed like he really got fleeced by that lawyer Debra Opri, and he’s probably paying someone a lot of money to fight that case. He also probably has to pay for those grand gravestones he’s ordering for Anna Nicole and Daniel.)

Birkhead has told The NY Daily News that he plans to sue over yet another book about Anna Nicole, “Anna Nicole Smith: Portrait of an Icon,” which is currently available for download for $15. The book was written by a fashion designer for Anna Nicole and his partner. The designer alleges that he met Birkhead at a camp for HIV positive youth and that he was quite open about his preference for men.

Birkhead also said that author Rita Cosby would be sued for a book about Anna Nicole that came out last year called “Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death” which claimed that Birkhead and creepy Anna hanger-on Howard K Stern were gay lovers. It was Stern who ended up suing Cosby to the tune of $60 million.

The inquest into Anna’s son Daniel’s death is underway. The coroner testified that 20 year-old Daniel’s death a year and a half ago couldn’t have been an accident, which suggests murder or suicide. He had too much methadone in his system for it to have not been intentional. Many people suspect Anna’s lawyer, Howard K Stern, had a hand in Daniel’s untimely demise. Anna’s death less than six months later was ruled an accidental overdose.

As for whether it’s news that Dannielynn went to her mom’s grave before she’s even two, I doubt it. Take some sweet pictures and do the interview at home or go to the park and play. Go to Disneyworld and get all your meals, admission and hotel stay comped while trying to score some cash for a cross-promotional deal. The kid won’t remember that either, but at least it will be fun for her.

Source: www.celebitchy.com

The inquest into the death of Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel has resumed. Though he died sixteen months ago, the inquest has been plagued by delays. The essential point is to determine how Daniel Smith died and if anyone was responsible for his death. His autopsy blamed a fatal combination of prescription drugs. However the inquest’s purpose is to figure out if it was accidental, suicidal, or if someone killed Daniel. A lot of suspicion has fallen on creepy Howard K. Stern, Anna’s “partner” - though it seems that they were likely never romantically involved. After Anna died last spring, the inquest was put on hold again. However they’ve been working at a steady pace the last few days, and have taken testimony from several of Anna’s friends.

Several of Anna’s associates have described Daniel as a boy who was painfully shy and somewhat embarrassed by his mother.

Ford Shelley, the son-in-law of G. Ben Thompson, a former boyfriend of the reality star and the developer who owned the Nassau home Smith and Howard K. Stern resided in the months leading up to her death, told the Coroner’s Court that the 20-year-old boy was a “brilliant” child who had for years been “living in a shell” as a result of his mother’s overshadowing fame and larger-than-life public persona.

“He wanted to break free,” Shelley said. “He loved his mother but didn’t want to be known as her son.”

[From E!]

Shelly denied that Daniel could have had a drug problem, noting that he “couldn’t even hold his liquor” and was “afraid of his own shadow.” Shelly noted that after Daniel died, he saw Howard K Stern find two white pills in the pockets of a pair of Daniel’s pants - which Stern quickly flushed down the toilet. Shelly said that he knew Daniel had recently broken up with his girlfriend and had a history of serious depression, but that he did not think he was suicidal. However the director of the medical examiner’s office in Miami-Dade County (where Daniel’s toxicology tests were performed) said it was likely an “intentional ingestion” due to the sheer quantity of drugs.

While eight different drugs, a combination of antidepressants and stimulants, were found in Daniel’s body at the time of his death, “clearly the methadone was the key in understanding this death. But for the methadone, he would not have died.”

[Dr. William Lee] Hern further claimed that, while he could not know for certain whether he did so deliberately or unintentionally, the large amount of drugs taken by Daniel in such a short amount of time—a onetime dosage of four pills rather than one, possibly diluted in a drink—lent itself to “a high degree of probability” that the overdose of drugs was “an intentional ingestion.”

“Based on the amount in the stomach, it was not an attempt to get high,” he said. “It was enough to kill him, with some left over unabsorbed. If what was in his blood hadn’t killed him, the remainder would have continued its toxic effect.”

[From E!]

I never though Daniel’s death was accidental, it was just a matter of speculating whether he killed himself or Howard K Stern did it. Whenever I considered the possibility of suicide, I couldn’t help but think about the timing. When you’re 20 years old, an only child, and admittedly very close to your needy mother, it must be incredibly bizarre for her to suddenly have a brand new baby girl and be shaking up with an evil guy. I thought Daniel might have been suicidal depressed because he perhaps thought he didn’t matter to his mother as much as he used to. I would think a lot of things were changing in his life, and that’d have to be a shock to the system. It never occurred to me that he obviously had his own life and own issues, and breaking up with a girlfriend can be really hard - especially when you’re just 20 years old. It can feel like the world is ending.

The issue of the methadone still remains incredibly suspicious, considering it played a role in Anna’s death a few months later. Being a lawyer, you’d think that if Howard K Stern were involved in some way, he’d be smart enough not to use methadone twice. But he’s never struck me as a particularly intelligent fellow, at least to hear him speak in interviews. So at this point we know that Daniel Smith’s death was caused by an “intentional ingestion” of drugs. What remains to be ruled is whether foul play was involved.

Source: www.celebitchy.com

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Source: www.celebitchy.com

Since it’s been a little over a month since we gave you an update on the Anna Nicole case, I thought it was time for a rundown. The inquest into the death of her son Daniel, 20, got under way last week. It had been postponed several times due to the legal wranglings of Howard K. Stern … and a hurricane, so they’re not all his fault. It took over a year for the inquest to actually begin. So far there haven’t been any giant revelations that make a person say a-ha, but there have been a lot of interesting tidbits. For instance, before he died, Daniel seemed fine to all the hospital personnel who came across him. Though several of them did note that they found Daniel asleep with Anna Nicole in her bed, which they found unusual.

On the second day of an inquest into the Sept. 10, 2006, death of Daniel Smith, nursing assistant Francis Woodside said the young man was sleeping in the same bed as his mother, while her attorney and partner Howard K. Stern slept in the other, about 3 hours and 40 minutes before a hospital-wide alarm that he had been found unconscious.

Woodside noted nothing unusual in the room except the sleeping arrangements. “We don’t usually have that happen, patients sleeping in the bed with relatives,” she told a jury that will decide the official cause of death and whether authorities should pursue any criminal charges.

[From the Associated Press]

That’s a little weird. Not sure what to make of it. Anna always seemed to have some pretty serious boundary issues. A part of me thinks that sounds pretty unhealthy, but the other part of me thinks it’s probably not that significant – Anna Nicole certainly did weirder things.

Another matter of note were some pills that were likely accidentally dropped by Howard K Stern. Considering a lot of people think he had something to do with Daniel’s death, it might end up being relevant.

Nurse Nadine Carey testified Tuesday that she found two round tablets on the bed that hospital employees previously said was occupied by Stern. She did not say what kind of pills they were, only that they were turned over to senior nursing staff.

Police have said there is no evidence of homicide in Daniel Smith’s death and an autopsy found the likely cause was a combination of drugs, including methadone and antidepressants.

[From the Associated Press]

Logically I doubt that there will be much of a conclusion from the inquest or that anyone will ever know for sure if someone else [Howard K Stern cough cough] had something to do with Daniel’s death. Though everything in Anna Nicole Smith’s life was so dramatic and “movie of the week” –like that you can’t help but expect some dramatic conclusion involving Howard breaking down and confessing, then throwing himself into traffic or something. Not that I’m suggesting that.

Note by Celebitchy: In March there was a story in the National Enquirer that claimed that Daniel’s autopsy results were faked and the numbers were fudged to make it look like his death was the result of a drug interaction. According to the Enquirer, the level of methadone in his system was ten times the amount reported on the official toxicology report, pointing to death by murder or suicide.

Source: www.celebitchy.com

Larry Birkhead is going to star with baby daughter Dannielynn in a reality TV show about their day to day life.

Larry Birkhead and his daughter with late Anna Nicole Smith will reportedly star in a reality show about 1-year-old Dannielynn being raised without her mother.

According to reports Birkhead was flooded with TV offers after Smith died and he gained custody of Dannielynn. “I don’t want to give away something yet. It’s basically the ‘day in the life of duties,’” Birkhead was quoted as saying.

“My daughter is my focus now. I’m being a great dad. She’s teething. She’s got about eight teeth. Everything is great with her. She comps on me every day. All she has to worry about is her Barney video,” Birkhead says.

TransWorldNews

Howard K. Stern has also been busy, serving legal papers to Rita Cosby at a Manhattan party for her book Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death. The papers are suing her for libel, mostly focused around the allegations that Larry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern were gay lovers. Rita’s evidence of this is a supposed tape of their encounter. In this video, Rita says she stands by her claims ‘120%’, but quickly leaves when reporters ask her to reveal her sources. The link is NSFW as it has Anna Nicole’s ‘death photos’. Obviously someone who stands by her claims 120% doesn’t have maths as their strong suit - I wonder if she’s worked out how many copies of her book she gonna need to shift to pay $US60 million to Howard K. Stern?

Virgie Arthur has also been seen out and about - at Rita Cosby’s book launch! Who would want to see that book published about their daughter?

I’m not a big fan of Anna Nicole Smith, her mother, either of her former male companions or Rita Cosby, all of them seem mostly interested in cashing in on her notoriety. At least Larry Birkhead has an excuse – to a point – in that he is a single father raising her baby.

The pictures of Anna Nicole dead (that we know were fakes) are now being claimed as Anna Nicole having a bit of fun. Rather than her being intoxicated, Howard K. Stern told Entertainment Tonight that the pictures were just of Anna Nicole eating a fish sandwich and having fun with the camera when she got tartar sauce on her face.

You know, there are some really unflattering pictures of me out there, but none this bad. At least I’m not naked, eating KFC, and missing my mouth.

Source: www.celebitchy.com

I’m no giant Larry Birkhead fan, nor am I at all a Howard K Stern fan, but I gotta say that sometimes there are really justified lawsuits, and this sure sounds like one. Rita Cosby - the former MSNBC anchorwoman with a voice that reminds you of running across playground gravel – wrote a book titled “Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death” in which she accused Howard K Stern and Larry Birkhead of being gay lovers. Now I can’t deny that Birkhead has a bit of a case of “gay face” as Perez Hilton calls it – but her accusations seem like complete horseshit. From pretty much every opinion we’ve ever head, Stern was freakishly obsessed with Anna Nicole, and desperately in love with her. I know we could make a lot of arguments, but sometimes, you can just tell something is pure bullshit, and Cosby is one of them. I’m probably tainted by the fact that I have an intense loathing for the woman – has anyone ever suggested she try clearing her throat? It could do wonders for the voice. There’s just something about her that always struck me as hackish and desperate, and she never seemed like a real reporter. She was all over the Anna Nicole mess – and I know we’re not ones to criticize, but hey, we don’t work for MSNBC either.

So Howard Stern has sued Cosby for libel – and though I don’t like him, I hope he takes every sent that crazy woman has.

“Usmagazine.com confirms that former Anna Nicole Smith lawyer Howard K. Stern has sued journalist Rita Cosby for libel. Stern’s lawyer Lin Wood tells Us, ‘The libel lawsuit was filed this afternoon in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Rita Cosby and her publisher, Hachette Book Group USA.’

“The lawsuit, which was first reported by CelebTV.com, asks for $60 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damages.

“Former MSNBC anchor Cosby is the author of Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death. In the book, she writes that Stern, 38, and Larry Birkhead, Smith’s former lover and the father of her daughter, Dannielynn, engaged in homosexual acts, which were caught on tape. Further, the book alleges that Stern and Birkhead struck a deal — Birkhead would get custody of Dannielynn in exchange for Stern being named executor of Smith’s estate.

“Before the book’s release, Birkhead, 34, told Us of Cosby’s claims, ‘If this book is not sitting next to Harry Potter on the fiction shelf, then Rita Cosby is going to be wrapped in one of the most expensive lawsuits ever.’”

[From Us Magazine]

Considering all of the gay love accusations in Cosby’s book were based on this supposed tape of Stern and Birkhead going at it, that woman better be able to produce a tape. On the other hand, I really don’t believe a tape exists – as a lawyer, I doubt Stern would risk a lawsuit that would likely force such a tape to be played. Would he really expose himself to that? Probably not. Like I said, I think Rita Cosby’s a hack and full of shit. She got canned by MSNBC and went out drinking and partying and dancing on bars all over Manhattan afterwards. I’m a total current events junkie, and can tell you everything you never needed to know about almost every cable journalist out there. And Rita Cosby couldn’t cut it, so she wrote some crap-ass book to try to get herself a little publicity. Congratulations Rita. Now you’ll lose every penny of that $48,000 MSNBC probably paid you.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Rita Cosby and her “the frog in my throat ate some gravel” voice. Just listen for 30 seconds to get the point, but no longer - I don’t want any of you to suffer hearing loss… or nightmares. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Source: www.celebitchy.com

Debra Opri, the lawyer who supposedly (and likely) agreed to represent Larry Birkhead pro bono, is suing Birkhead for $600,000 legal bill. Opri had agreed to represent Birkhead in exchange for the publicity his custody battle with Anna Nicole Smith would give her (depending on who’s side you believe). It’s hard to believe that Birkhead would have entered into a traditional contract with a lawyer who was going to charge him the standard exorbitant rates, consider that a lot of lawyers would have loved to represent him in the publicity-generating trial. But Opri says Birkhead owes her $600,000, and is also suing Birkhead for defamation. There is a ton of animosity between the two, and following their own little case can be a little complicated.

“She sued Dannielynn’s dad for defamation Monday, claiming that he has engaged in a ‘malicious and relentless media campaign to discredit me and to destroy my reputation,’ according to a statement from Opri released to E! Online. The plaintiff [Opri] said, however, that all proceeds from the suit will go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“‘My primary concern has always been for a child named Dannielynn…It is my belief and my strong conviction that no child should be exploited in any manner,’ she said. After petitioning a judge to order Birkhead into arbitration to settle his unpaid $600,000 legal bill for the six months of services she provided him during his paternity battle with Anna Nicole Smith, Birkhead filed his own lawsuit against the Los Angeles attorney, accusing her of fraud and legal malpractice.

The Kentucky-born and L.A.-based photographer claimed that Opri, after originally agreeing to represent him pro bono in exchange for all the publicity she was going to receive from the case, amassed a list of frivolous expenses that she expected him to pay for.”

[From E! Online]

So far the judge seems to be siding with Birkhead, denying many of Opri’s motions. It seems like she’s just angry and vindictive about her departure (firing) from a case that can only be described as a media whore’s wet dream.

“Birkhead also accused Opri of hanging onto at least $800,000 of a $1 million paycheck he received in exchange for a series of media appearances following Smith’s death. The money still in Opri’s client-trust account has since been frozen and placed in an interest-bearing account, pending the conclusion of these proceedings, and she lost her bid for mediation earlier this month after L.A. Superior Court Judge Charles C. Lee ruled that her contract with Birkhead did not call for binding arbitration.

“She also failed to address her former client’s allegations of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and conversion, Lee said. But Opri is now suggesting that Birkhead had ulterior motives for trying to get the drop on her in court.

“‘It is clear now that Mr. Birkhead’s attempts to discredit me concerned what I knew and what might be exposed publicly…and not a legal bill,’ Opri said. ‘With the recent release of the Rita Cosby book, Blonde Ambition, Mr. Birkhead’s attacks have escalated to include false and malicious allegations that I was a source for the book.’”

[From E! Online]

It sort of sounds like she’s saying that she knew about the alleged Larry Birkhead/Howard K Stern male lovefest, or at least knew it details of it were going to be published. Apparently Rita Cosby introduced Birkhead to Opri, which seems very, very odd to me. Especially because that implies that at some point Rita Cosby and Larry Birkhead were on good enough terms that she was making legal recommendations to him, and he was listening. Very bizarre. I’m no lawyer, but I’m guessing she won’t win the lawsuit. It just seems so unlikely that Birkhead would have hired her if she planned on charging him her regular rates. I’m sure he knew the custody fight would be long and arduous and thus very expensive. He certainly wasn’t a rich man, pre-Anna Nicole Smith. Why would he agree to have a lawyer for pay when he could have a lawyer for free?