Sunday, March 4, 2007

Anna Nicole Smith buried but far from gone

Anna Nicole Smith may have finally been buried on Friday afternoon, over three weeks after the TrimSpa model and Playboy Playmate died at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, but not only is her story far from over with paternity battles yet to be determined, but the resting place of the larger-than-life figure has become the number one tourist hotspot in the Bahamas.

The New York Daily News spoke to a cab driver who tells them that the tourists who get off cruise ships in the Bahamas don't want the local flavor as much as they want to see the grave of Anna Nicole Smith - "Everybody wants to see this. People are getting off the cruise ships, and this is where they want to come. The tourism board...can't buy the kind of exposure they had here the last few weeks."

TMZ reports that it's not just cruise ship riders with good timing, but that some people have already booked tours to the Bahamas just to visit the grave of Anna Nicole Smith. They note that on Saturday, Larry Birkhead - the former lover of Anna Nicole and the alleged father of Dannielynn, her five month-old daughter - was at the Bahamas airport waiting for a ride back home and even posed for a few pictures with tourists.

Playfuls had a few of the details on the lavish, fit for a queen funeral of Anna Nicole Smith. They report that around 100 guests attended the ceremony on Friday in the Bahamas and that Anna Nicole Smith was laid to rest in a closed mahogany coffin. Of course, just as in the life, an ordinary coffin wouldn't do for Anna Nicole Smith and the box was covered in a pink shroud of feathers and ribbons and studded with rhinestones spelling out her name. In the box, Anna Nicole Smith wore a pink couture gown that had been specifically designed for her by a friend. The gown of the reality TV star featured an emblazoned heart and she wore a tiara. The site even reports that Anna Nicole Smith clutched an urn with the ashes of J. Howard Marshall III inside. The billionaire and the beauty married in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26 and, after his death, Anna Nicole Smith has fought to get part of his extensive fortune.

At 6am on Friday, a motorcade took the body of Anna Nicole Smith from the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office to Miami International Airport, where Anna Nicole was whisked to the Bahamas. The service took place that afternoon at the Mount Horeb Baptist Church with only a select few in attendance. Of course, for a woman who lived her life in front of the camera, that select few included cameras from Entertainment Tonight, who reportedly paid 4 million dollars for exclusive press coverage of the funeral of Anna Nicole Smith.

After the service, Anna Nicole Smith was laid to rest next to her son Daniel Smith, who died last September just days after his mother gave birth to his sister Dannielynn, at the Lakeview Memorial Gardens. A small flock of doves was released and Ruby Ann Darling, a spiritual advisor for Anna Nicole Smith, said that the three primary figures in the legal battle over the body of Anna Nicole - Larry Birkhead, Virgie Arthur, and Howard K. Stern - all put roses on Smith's coffin.

In an interesting note, Larry Birkhead, Virgie Arthur, and Howard K. Stern all got to see how they're performing in the court of public opinion. Arthur, Anna Nicole Smith's estranged mother, was trying to take her daughter back to the family plot in Texas and she delayed the burial at least a week with appeals. Mommy was booed by onlookers for the funeral. According to Playfuls, Howard K. Stern was received neutrally and Larry Birkhead actually received some ovations. He seems to be the most popular figure in the Anna Nicole Smith saga.

All three of the players gave eulogies and, while it's unclear exactly what was said, Howard K. Stern actually used the emotional moment in front of his alleged lover's grave to speak about the legal issues (it's unclear if that means the legal issues that are over in Florida or the ones around the paternity cases pending in California). Birkhead told the AP, "We were all given equal amount of time and that's how he chose to spend his time. I wouldn't have used my time that way. ...It doesn't make anything better."

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