Blonde Ambition Page 11

  December

  King Eric had first met Anna through her friend Peter Nygard in 2000 at one of his famous parties. He was introduced to her again when she moved to the Bahamas after she met his son, Shane Gibson, the Bahamian Immigration Minister. King Eric was known around town as the guy who took lots of VIPs out on his boat. He was used to celebrities. King Eric and Brigitte started taking Anna out on the waters.

  "I cooked her a meal on the boat and she loved it," King Eric remembers. "She said, 'You could come to my house sometime and cook a meal.' I said, 'Anytime, Anna. Anytime.'"

  Late in the year, Brigitte and Eric, Anna's "Mommy" and "Daddy," began coming over more often to cook for Anna. Sometimes twice a week. "Matter of fact," King Eric said, "the only time she eat a real meal is when I cook. She loved Bahamian, loved fried fish Bahamian style. She was really adorable."

  "I do knitting and a lot of crafts," Brigitte told me. "And when we'd wait for the fish to boil, I would knit."

  "I wish I could knit," Anna commented, watching Brigitte's hands play with the yarn.

  "It's not hard to learn," Brigitte told her, showing how she used the needles to hook the yarn into tight knots. Brigitte told Anna that when someone has a baby it is a tradition that somebody knits something for the baby.

  "Dannielynn didn't get anything," Anna had said.

  "So, I decided to make her a blanket for Dannielynn," Brigitte told me. "And I brought it over there at Christmas and she was very gracious and she was just really touched."

  "Thank you so much, Mommy," Anna told Brigitte through tears.

  "Not at all . . . " Brigitte smiled.

  • • •

  Peter Nygard spoke to Anna for the last time shortly before Christmas. They had talked about getting together for dinner and Anna wanted to know if he was going to have his annual big New Year's Eve party. "I told her I was not, that I was going to Miami for New Year's," he said. "I wish I saw her. I could've saved her. Each of her last calls seemed like she was almost reaching out for help."

  "Christmas is always an emotional kind of holiday," Brigitte reminisced.

  "We attend church, we all attend church," King Eric said. That December, Anna went with them. King Eric was in the choir and they were playing music with the choir singing.

  It was in this "tiny little chapel," as Brigitte described it. "It was so beautiful and then the violinist began playing on the violin and it gave you goose bumps."

  King Eric began singing "Amazing Grace."

  Anna began crying as King Eric sang the lyrics from the choir: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see." While on the "trail of tears," it is said the Cherokee Indians were not always able to give their dead a full and proper burial. So, instead, the singing of "Amazing Grace" in their native tongue had to suffice.

  By the time this verse came: "Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home," Anna had rushed down the aisle and was sobbing outside the back of the church.

  "I couldn't figure out why she walked out," King Eric said. Then, he realized it was the same song sung at Daniel's funeral.

  January

  By January, despite continuing to fight with Ben Thompson over payments toward Horizons and not being able to pay some employees, Anna had been able to buy a house and now was buying a boat. Both of which, King Eric was to help her with—the first, helping to oversee the renovations at the house, and, the second, as her captain, getting the boat from Florida to the Bahamas. It remains a mystery where the money came from to make these expensive purchases.

  Anna also made her first high-profile public appearance since her son's death. She joined a sell-out crowd of 5,238 at the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, to watch the man they call "Tremendous" live up to his nickname. After a twoyear layoff, "Tremendous," left-hander Travis Simms, reclaimed his boxing super welterweight title with a ninth-round technical knockout.

  About his glitterati crowd, promoter Don King crowed, "I'm bringing Hollywood to Hollywood." Anna seemed to enjoy watching the fight from her ringside seat—along with other notables such as Hulk Hogan, Rev. Al Sharpton, and rapper Fat Joe—as Simms delivered punishing blows to the head and body of his opponent Jose Antonio Rivera.

  After the fight, Simms announced, "I'm back. I did what I had to do . . . it was just a matter of time." Anna was back too, showing her smile, taking pictures, and waving to her wellwishing fans. She also showed off her new tattoo to Hulk Hogan. The photos of her experience would be the last public photographs ever taken of the model. A month later she would be dead.

  February 5, 2007

  Anna was excited. After having her morning injection into her left buttock, she headed for a ten o'clock dance lesson for a music video she was producing for an upcoming TrimSpa event. Around 11:00 a.m., after she got home from her rehearsal, she called Mrs. Gibson.

  "Mommy?" Anna asked. "We want to go to Florida today to bring the boat back. Can you take care of Dannielynn until we get back?"

  "What time do you want me to come?" Mrs. Gibson replied.

  "Now, if you can," Anna said.

  "I can be there around one o'clock," Mrs. Gibson told her. Mrs. Gibson got all her errands done and rushed over to Horizons. When she arrived, she learned that the flight had been delayed. It would now leave at 4:30 p.m. Anna spent the rest of her time playing with Dannielynn. She was kissing her from head to foot, making her laugh. The baby giggled, and smiled ear to ear.

  When it was time to leave, Anna turned to Mrs. Gibson and said, "Now you pray for me."

  "I'm always praying for you, Anna," Mrs. Gibson said.

  Then Anna went over and hugged Mrs. Gibson. "That was a different kind of hug," Mrs. Gibson remembers. "She hugged me like she didn't want to let me go." Howard announced that they had to go or they'd miss their flight. Mrs. Gibson wonders now if Anna felt something, if she had a premonition.

  "I do have a little belief in destiny," King Eric told me. "Things happen that you don't know is gonna happen, but all the signs are there and you never really think about it until it happens. And then you think, geez, it was right in front of my eyes all the time, but I just didn't see it."

  Before she walked out the door, Anna turned and told Mrs. Gibson, "I want you to take care of Dannielynn. I know she's in good hands."

  chapter 7

  Breaking News

  3:48 p.m. EST

  MSNBC Television

  rita cosby: I understand we have Ron Rale now with us exclusively on the phone. Ron, you and I just spoke a few moments ago off camera, tell us what you know.

  ron rale: I can confirm that Anna Nicole is deceased. I don't have the cause right now, obviously there's going to be an autopsy. I was informed by a gentleman who was in the room with Howard Stern, who is obviously speechless as all of us are. But they want me to address this so . . . nobody there is able to talk, so I'm giving you the information. I don't have anything more right now. Anna did have some flu symptoms. I believe the last couple of days she wasn't feeling well, I think she had a fever. But, it's just shocking. And, I don't know anything more right now. I'm trying to find out, just like you guys are. But it is confirmed that she has passed away.

  rita cosby: How did you find out the news?

  ron rale: I was trying to find out with the help of the media, the backlines to the hospital. But I actually got a call from Howard Stern's cell phone, and it was another gentleman, Howard was unable to speak, but they gave me the information.

  rita cosby: Have you talked to the family at all?

  ron rale: I haven't spoke to anybody. This is all just news to me. We're gonna find out . . . it's unbelievable. I almost still didn't believe it. I'm having a hard time believing it, but that is what I'm informed. Howard was in the background there I think, but it's . . . this is just a horrible, horrible thing. I'll let you know more when I find out more.


  rita cosby: Give a sense of some of the pressure, you and I were talking earlier, just about the pressure that's been on her mentally, physically in the last few months.

  ron rale: I have been concerned because I don't think anybody should have to endure what she's endured, having lost her son and people attacking her left and right. And frankly I don't want to get emotional or angry about this right now, but I don't know what the cause was . . . . It's just I felt like Anna was the underdog having all of this thrust upon her and she really just wanted to be a mom and she was a good mom, and this is uh, tragic.

  On February 8, 2007, at 3:48 p.m., I broke the story on MSNBC, getting the official word that Anna Nicole Smith had died. Details of her death spread quickly, completely overshadowing all other news stories. Though there were other, more urgent world events—including a sixth chopper downed in Iraq in three weeks, and the death of our nation's troops—the death of Anna Nicole Smith, TrimSpa spokesperson extraordinaire, received unparalleled coverage. The day of her death, NBC's Nightly News devoted fourteen seconds to Iraq compared to three minutes and thirty seconds to Anna Nicole; more than ten percent of its entire newscast focused on the death of the blonde model. That night, NBC's cable network, MSNBC, aired more than three solid hours of coverage strictly devoted to her death.

  In short, America was riveted by this story. Here's how it went:

  LARRY KING: The death of Anna Nicole Smith—it's the number one story around the world tonight.

  BILL O'REILLY: Thank you for watching us tonight. The talking points memo will be in our second segment this evening . . . . First, 39-year old Anna Nicole Smith dead in Florida.

  JOE SCARBOROUGH: For better or for worse, would you call Anna Nicole Smith an American icon of the early 21st Century?

  The story had really caught fire around 2:45 pm, when our newsroom at MSNBC, like other newsrooms around the country, had sparked with the news that Anna Nicole had collapsed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Florida. I had just finished my shift, but the managing producer asked if I would come back into the studio to talk to the public about what I knew about Anna—from her wild past to her crazy present and its cast of high-rolling eccentric characters. Over the last several months, I had become acquainted with many in the Anna Nicole circle, including doing an attention-getting exclusive interview with Larry Birkhead.

  I was already aware of some behind-the-scenes legal dramas in the case, as well as many of the current pressures Anna Nicole was under. In late September 2006, during a lengthy, late night conversation, a distraught Larry Birkhead revealed to me yet untold specific and jaw dropping details of his relationship with Anna Nicole. He also presented what he believed was clear proof of his being the father of her baby. I was quite surprised by the amount of evidence and dates he had collected to build his case, and was impressed by how passionate this then unknown photographer was that Howard K. Stern was putting on a huge hoax to the American public, since Howard had just gone on Larry King announcing he was the father to the world. Larry Birkhead described Howard as being an enormous con artist and liar, someone who deeply facilitated Anna Nicole's drug habit.

  As our discussion continued that evening, Larry asked me, as he told me he had done with several other journalists, if I had any recommendations for a "pit bull" lawyer who would essentially have the wherewithal to stand up to the spin machine of Howard K. Stern. He knew he was in the middle of a David and Goliath fight.

  I suggested a few names, including Debra Opri whom I knew from her representation of the Michael Jackson family during his contentious child molestation case. Larry asked if I would call her and make the introduction. At that time, Opri didn't know anything about the story, and after I explained some details, she said, "If this is true, he should be declared the father and see his child. This is explosive."

  I learned days later, they had met and reached an agreement amongst themselves on representation. I was not aware of the specific details or arrangements. My job was to cover the story.

  Months later, minutes after the news broke that Anna Nicole Smith had been rushed to the hospital, I was trying to put truth to the rumors already being churned by the gossip mill—various sources claimed that she was everything from drunk to drugged. Was it just another kooky episode for this reality TV star or was there more?

  I immediately called Anna's attorney, Ron Rale, to ask him about her condition. Since Ron had often spoken on Anna's behalf in the on-going paternity suit, and was a long time friend of Howard K. Stern's, I knew he would be one of the few people who could get immediate access to information about her health. "We've heard she collapsed," I said after momentary pleasantries. "But do you know any more?"

  At 3:38 p.m. EST, I was on the air. I had just finished speaking with Ron Rale, Anna's attorney, who had just gotten word that she had collapsed. He said that he had heard in the last few days that she was not feeling well and had flu like symptoms. She had been woozy, nauseous. His reaction to the latest news: he was frantic. He was calling the hospital and getting more details. He said he hadn't gotten any calls or talked to the hospital yet. I asked if he'd mind calling the hospital again and getting an update on her condition. I told him I'd call back in ten minutes.

  None of us could have imagined the tragic turn of events that Anna Nicole's weird world had suddenly taken. When I got Ron on the phone again, he was notably somber. "Rita," he said, pausing. "She's deceased."

  "Deceased?" I repeated.

  "She's dead, Rita," Ron said, with bewilderment. "Dead."

  "Are you sure?" I asked.

  He was. He'd heard it from the hospital and confirmed it with someone in the room with Howard K. Stern, explaining that Howard was too distraught to speak to him personally. Without hesitation, I asked what any reporter would have in the situation: "Will you go on the air with that terrible news?"

  At first he said no. Then, he said he would in an hour. I told him it was important for people to hear the news first from someone who cared so deeply about Anna. "Would you do it right now?" I asked. Thirty seconds later, after he had composed himself, Ron Rale told the world: "Anna Nicole is deceased."

  • • •

  My afternoon on-air session was non-stop. I connected with sources and friends of Anna Nicole's during commercial breaks and then went live with them moments later. In the four o'clock hour I talked to David Granoff, Anna's former publicist and close friend to her for ten years. He told me he was "very sad, but not shocked." Remembering that Anna was always in and out of the hospital with so many terrible things happening in her life. He said when he saw her on TV recently that he thought there was no spark anymore. "I kind of had this in the back of my mind that something like this was going to happen." Then, he asked, "What was she found with? A mixture of drugs or something?"

  Just after 4:30 p.m. EST, Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger held a press conference and said, "All I know is the nurse called at 1:38 p.m., called the hotel operator. Only the nurse was in the room at the time." When a question was raised from the throng of reporters about where the bodyguard was, he answered, "He came in at a later time to administer CPR."

  Around 5:15 pm. EST on MSNBC, Captain Dan Fitzgerald from Hollywood Fire and Rescue said in a taped interview with WTVJ that Anna Nicole Smith was found "unconscious and not breathing." He said there is no way of knowing how long she'd been down before she was discovered.

  At the top of the six o'clock hour, I was talking live on the air with Peter Nygard. He said he had known her for ten years, dated her for three, and that they still remained close. "Anna Nicole kept telling me years ago she had a death wish," Peter announced, "that she pictured herself like a Marilyn Monroe and she would die the same way as Marilyn Monroe would, and all of a sudden here we are."

  Around the same time, Alex Goen, the CEO and founder of TrimSpa released to the press a written statement: "Today Anna Nicole Smith's grief stricken and tumultuous personal life came to an end. Anna came to our company as a customer
, but she departs it as a friend. While life for Anna Nicole was not easy these past few months, she held dear her husband Howard K. Stern, her daughter Dannielynn Hope, her most cherished friends, beloved dogs and finally her work with TrimSpa . . . Anna knew both the joy of giving life and the heartache of losing a child. We pray that she is granted the peace that eluded her more recent days on earth and that she finds comfort in the presence of her son, Daniel."

  Minutes after the statement was released, Extra correspondent Carlos Diaz highlighted on MSNBC that it seemed apparent to him that Alex Goen and his diet pill company, TrimSpa, were immediately trying to take a step away from Anna Nicole. "If you listen to the wording in that statement," Carlos reported, "TrimSpa is saying Anna Nicole Smith 'came to us as a customer.' That to me is very, very gutsy to say it in that way because basically they're already distancing themselves from Anna Nicole saying in essence she's not a spokesperson, she's not an employee, you know, because of the class action lawsuit that's being filed. She came to us as a customer. That to me says, you know, kind of good riddance to Anna Nicole. I find that to be very telling on TrimSpa's part."