0:04

Double

0:04

Elvis.

0:07

Badlands is a production of Double Elvis.

0:34

The stories about Anna Nicole Smith

0:37

are insane. Her curves

0:39

caused one country to nearly declare her

0:41

a threat to public safety. She

0:44

was investigated by the FBI for

0:46

an alleged murder plot against her 60-year-old

0:49

stepson. Her real

0:51

son, Daniel, died mysteriously

0:53

from a toxic combination of prescription

0:55

medications. She died

0:58

only a few months later under equally

1:00

strange circumstances. Her career

1:02

defied definition. She

1:05

was a Playboy bunny, a model, and

1:07

a reality TV star rolled into one

1:09

femme fatale. She ascended

1:11

from the stages of Houston strip clubs to

1:13

the world stage seemingly overnight, and

1:16

fell from grace just as fast. But

1:19

before she succumbed to eternal beauty rest,

1:22

Anna Nicole Smith made, well,

1:24

she made Not great films, but

1:26

she was in The Naked Gun, 33 1 3rd. Unlike

1:30

that clip I played for you at the top of the show,

1:32

that wasn't from a film. That

1:35

was a fair use sample from the Library

1:37

of Congress of Clara Smith and her

1:39

jazz trio performing Death Letter

1:42

Blues in 1924.

1:44

I played you that clip because I can't afford

1:46

the rights to Brian Robbins' Norbit.

1:49

And why would I play you that

1:51

specific slice of multiple Eddie

1:53

Murphy's cheese Could I Afford It?

1:56

Because that was the number one movie in

1:58

America.

1:59

on February 5th, 2007. And

2:02

that was the day Anna Nicole Smith

2:04

checked into room 607 at the Hard

2:07

Rock Hotel and never checked

2:09

out. On this episode,

2:11

threats to public safety, alleged

2:13

murder plots, death under strange

2:15

circumstances, and the woman whose career

2:18

defied definition, Anna

2:20

Nicole Smith. I'm

2:22

Jake Brennan, and this is

2:25

Badlands, season seven,

2:27

Hollywoodland.

3:00

The cop thought the whole scene

3:02

was ugly as sin. She

3:05

dragged the exotic dancer by her neck, first

3:07

off the stage and then out the front door of the strip joint.

3:10

The dancer entered the back seat of the cruiser

3:12

with the grace of a newborn fawn. All

3:16

she was missing was a pair of handcuffs.

3:19

Well, that and a pair of decent pants

3:21

to hide her G-string. But

3:24

the cop didn't slap any cuffs on her. She

3:26

hadn't committed a crime, yet. The

3:29

dancer's name changed depending on her shift.

3:32

Some called her Robin or Nikki. With

3:34

the cop driving her scantily clad ass home

3:37

tonight, knew her as Vicky Lynn Smith,

3:40

her daughter. Deputy Sheriff

3:42

Virgie Hart didn't raise her children to flaunt

3:45

their bodies for money. Vicky

3:47

Lynn, on the other hand, thought she earned a decent,

3:49

honest living just like everybody else. Thank you

3:51

very much. She just happened to do it with

3:53

no clothes on. Her mother disagreed. Honest

3:56

work meant putting on your sheriff's defeat badge

3:59

every morning and protecting. the good citizens of

4:01

the great state of Texas. It also

4:03

meant keeping your teenage daughter off the pole.

4:06

Vicky Lynn sank into the backseat in defeat.

4:09

The lights of Houston nightlife reflected in

4:11

her stripper heels, another job down

4:13

the drain. Just like Red Lobster

4:15

and Walmart and Jim's crispy fried chicken

4:18

too. Vicky Lynn's first job

4:20

after she dropped out of high school. That

4:22

gig at Jim's crispy fried chicken wasn't

4:25

a complete waste at least. It gave

4:27

her a husband and a baby boy in just

4:29

one year.

4:29

First came the fellow dropout

4:32

and fry cook she fell in love with and married.

4:34

Then came Daniel, their baby boy

4:37

born when Vicky Lynn was only 18 years old. As

4:40

it turned out, Billy was a bully and

4:42

Vicky Lynn split after barely a year into

4:44

their marriage. Daniel, Daniel

4:47

was her whole world. Daniel

4:50

was also why she needed steady work

4:53

so badly.

4:54

She had two miles to feed and zero

4:56

special skills and no GED.

4:59

Vicky Lynn didn't need a diploma to tell her the math

5:01

was stacked against her when it came to employment.

5:04

But maybe she could squeeze out a few bucks for men

5:06

looking for women who were well stacked.

5:08

Her new vocation called to

5:10

her like a siren from the side of the road in Houston.

5:13

A voluptuous woman outlined in neon rising

5:15

from the partially Texas soil. And the

5:17

woman rocked on her tiptoes, back and forth

5:20

in her sky high heels. Her smile

5:22

as pearly white as a bikini clinging to her curves.

5:25

It was an advertisement for the Executive

5:27

Club, a gentleman's bar in Houston. It

5:30

was a sign Vicky Lynn needed, literally.

5:33

Her shifts at Red Lobster and Walmart brought

5:35

home nearly $50 a week. Vicky

5:37

could earn that amount dancing in a single evening.

5:40

Now she was gonna earn diddly squat thanks

5:43

to her mother. Virgie

5:45

threatened to come into the Executive Club every night to

5:47

make trouble if the owner didn't take Vicky off

5:49

stage that very moment. And Vicky couldn't

5:51

believe

5:51

it. That lady and the wife Keeney

5:53

up on the sign probably never had a deal of shit like this.

5:57

But everything is bigger in Texas, especially

5:59

the gentleman.

5:59

Club business. There were plenty of

6:02

other joints to choose from. There was puzzles

6:04

and gg's on the north side of town. Ritzier

6:06

joints like Baby O's and the Colorado Club

6:09

over in southwest Houston too. Vicky

6:11

Lynn's mind was made up before she could even peel

6:14

her ass from the back seat of the cruiser's upholstery. She

6:16

was going to pack her baby boy into her car and leave

6:18

home for good. If her mama didn't want

6:20

her making a good living to provide for her son, Vicky

6:23

Lynn didn't want to stick around. Stripping

6:25

was here to stay. You can hang your hat on

6:28

that.

6:28

At least until Vicky Lynn met

6:30

her future husband.

6:36

She was just about everything a Texas

6:38

man wanted. Tall, tantalizing,

6:41

buxom. Maybe two buxom. Buxom

6:44

was bad for business at the best known gentleman's

6:47

club in Houston. They liked their ladies stick

6:49

thin like the other eight girls in 1991. That

6:52

meant Vicky Lynn Smith wouldn't be taking any evening

6:55

shifts at Gigi's. She could entertain

6:57

the sad sacks who haunted the place each afternoon

6:59

instead. Sad sacks like

7:02

oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall.

7:05

Vicky Lynn spotted the elderly

7:06

gentleman wilting in his wheelchair. She

7:09

moved across the stage in his direction with a

7:11

little twinkle in her green eyes. He

7:13

smiled back reluctantly. The song

7:15

on the PA, the lady in red, did

7:18

all the talking. J.

7:20

Howard Marshall wasn't just lonesome these days.

7:23

He was despondent. He lost his

7:25

wife to Alzheimer's. That was the

7:27

first hit. Then his young girlfriend

7:29

on the side died on the operating table while getting

7:32

a facelift.

7:33

Now he was a bonafide billionaire with no

7:35

one to spoil.

7:37

He wouldn't be lonely for long. The oil baron

7:39

invited Vicky Lynn to lunch the next day and slid

7:41

an envelope stuffed with cash across the table.

7:44

He told her she'd never have to work again. Vicky

7:47

Lynn graciously accepted the gift.

7:50

She accepted a lot of gifts

7:52

from J. Howard Marshall.

7:59

complete with Arabian horses. And

8:02

there was one gift Vicky Lynn wanted to share with

8:04

the world, her $14,000 breast augmentation, now

8:09

sized up with classic American bombshells,

8:12

like Marilyn, Jayne Mansfield, and

8:14

Pamela Anderson.

8:16

Vicky Lynn boasted the kind of figure that was far

8:18

too fine for just a few lonely faces at

8:20

a time. Forget the horny cowboys

8:22

in Houston, they could keep their stick-thin, it

8:25

girls. Vicky Lynn was ready

8:27

for a much bigger close-up.

8:31

She didn't tell Playboy, she used to be a

8:33

stripper. Playboy liked their girls

8:35

quote-unquote fresh, or whatever the fuck

8:37

that meant. She mailed the magazine a handful

8:40

of nude photographs and was on the cover of the March 1992

8:42

issue before you could say double

8:44

Ds. Two months later, she

8:46

was Miss May. The centerfold

8:48

could barely contain her busty profile. And

8:50

Vicky Lynn's curves transcended the laws of

8:52

physics. They transcended the limits

8:55

of mere playmate fame too. Guess

8:57

Jean saw Vicky Lynn's naked photos and begged

8:59

her to put their pants on. Claudia Schiffer

9:02

was out as the face of the brand, and Vicky

9:04

Lynn was in. Unlike the way

9:06

fish models of the early 1990s, Vicky

9:08

Lynn actually filled out the jeans. Super-sized

9:11

billboards of her super-sized curves spread across

9:14

the country, across other continents,

9:17

dig this tall new glass of Texas tea. In

9:19

Norway, her billboards even caused enough of

9:21

an up-taking car accident that the government nearly

9:23

declared them a threat to public safety. Vicky

9:26

Lynn had the body. Now she

9:28

needed the personal brand. Her name

9:30

was

9:31

a little too small-town for her trajectory.

9:34

Instead, the founder of Guess crowned

9:36

her Anna Nicole Smith.

9:39

By the end of 1993, Anna

9:42

Nicole was named Playboy's Playmate

9:44

of the Year. It was among the most coveted of

9:46

titles for bunnies and budding stars, and

9:48

Anna Nicole Smith was both. Now

9:51

that she had elevated herself from stripper to socialite,

9:53

she accepted a marriage proposal from Jay Howard

9:56

Marshall in the 22-karat diamond ring

9:58

that came with it.

9:59

Her new husband- was over 60 years

10:01

her senior. The scandal of their marriage

10:04

fanned America's fascination with their newest

10:06

object of desire. Anna

10:08

Nicole crept closer to Hollywood as the tabloids

10:11

tore apart her unorthodox love life. She

10:13

accepted small roles in movies like To

10:16

the Limit and The Naked Gun, 33 and a Third, The Final Insult.

10:20

None of these movies developed Anna Nicole as

10:22

an artist. No one referred to her as

10:24

the actress, Anna Nicole Smith.

10:26

She was just a sex symbol who was famous

10:28

for being famous and for becoming

10:31

famous overnight at that. That

10:33

was the funny thing about fame. You could catapult

10:36

femme fatales onto global billboards and big

10:38

screens in the blink of an eye, but it could

10:40

also crush them into fatalities just

10:43

as fast.

10:48

["The The

11:03

The

11:07

Mark Hatton repeated his response

11:10

to the feds. No, he

11:12

would not wear a wire around his ex-girlfriend,

11:14

Anna Nicole Smith. Final answer,

11:17

could it provide evidence for the case? Yes.

11:20

Would it be a sweet dose of revenge for her breaking

11:22

it off with him? Fuck yes. But

11:24

Mark still wasn't doing it. So, no.

11:28

Fuck the feds. Mark Hatton knew

11:30

what was true and that was all that mattered. His

11:32

then girlfriend, Anna Nicole, asked

11:35

him to kill her stepson. Technically,

11:37

technically anyways, he was her stepson. The dude

11:40

was 60 years old. 60 years

11:42

old. But he was her rival.

11:45

When J. Howard Marshall croaked in 1995, the

11:48

buck quite literally stopped right

11:51

there. Anna Nicole wasn't even an

11:53

interlaid husband's will. That

11:55

60-year-old stepson got all $1.6 billion. Anna

11:59

Nicole would just

11:59

have to settle for the 12 million dollars worth

12:02

of gifts she received during her late husband's lifetime.

12:05

However, Anna Nicole Smith wasn't settling.

12:09

Bigger was better after all, and that went

12:11

for what she felt she was owed. Her lawsuit

12:14

over her dead husband's will wasn't just a battle,

12:16

it was a years long war, and

12:18

by June of 2000, it had reached

12:20

a feverish high.

12:22

So feverishly high that Anna

12:24

Nicole just needed Mark Hatton to take

12:26

care of it, or at least find someone who could discreetly

12:28

resolve her problem. Mark refused.

12:31

Maybe a modern Maryland Monroe could manipulate

12:33

men into just about anything, but murder

12:36

was out of the question. She would have to fend

12:38

for herself.

12:39

And so would the feds.

12:42

The FBI knocked on Anna Nicole's door on

12:44

July 3rd, 2000. She gave her

12:46

statement. No, she would never

12:48

even think of arranging an atrocious thing

12:51

like murder. She was innocent. Even

12:53

if the 357 Smith and Wesson stainless

12:56

steel knife retrieve from her home suggested otherwise.

12:58

Without any ironclad proof of a murder plot,

13:01

thanks to Mark's refusal to wear a wire, the

13:03

FBI abandoned the case in April of 2001. But

13:07

Mark still had his suspicions. Not

13:09

about Anna Nicole's.

13:11

About Howard K. Stern. Hold

13:14

up. I'm not talking about the Howard

13:16

Stern that you all know, the shock jock turned king

13:18

of all media. I'm talking about Howard K.

13:21

Stern,

13:21

Anna Nicole's weird lawyer pal.

13:24

He was most definitely not a cutting edge radio

13:26

personality. But Mark still suspected

13:28

Howard K. Stern might have something shocking up his

13:30

sleeve. Because first of all, who chums

13:33

around with their lawyer? But more importantly,

13:35

Mark up the sense that Howard wanted him out of the picture.

13:38

Like a jealous boyfriend pushing away competitors.

13:41

Howard gave Mark two pills once and claimed

13:43

they are aspirin. Yeah, right. Aspirin

13:45

doesn't knock you unconscious for 24 hours straight. So

13:48

if Howard K. Stern, Anna

13:50

Nicole Smith's

13:51

friend, was giving Mark her ex-boyfriend

13:54

those kinds of pills, what the fuck

13:57

was he giving Anna Nicole?

14:01

Daniel Smith struggled to make eye

14:03

contact with the detective. He stared

14:06

out the window of Patty's restaurant and all

14:08

day breakfast joint in Toluca Lake, California.

14:11

It didn't seem like anyone had followed him, not

14:13

yet at least. Steam curled

14:15

from Daniel's coffee. He didn't order any food.

14:18

He had no appetite. Here

14:20

he was, meeting a detective at an inconspicuous

14:22

diner just like they did in the movies. This

14:25

shit could be in a James Bond flick, maybe even the Naked

14:27

Gun. Except

14:29

there was nothing funny about what Daniel

14:31

needed to divulge about his mother.

14:34

He locked eyes with Jack Harding, the

14:36

detective sitting across the table. Harding

14:39

knew all about Anna Nicole Smith. I

14:41

mean, in 2006, who didn't? Her

14:43

early-odds TV show, the Anna Nicole show,

14:46

gave the world an inside look at her in her circle,

14:48

complete with that ditzy commentary.

14:50

Sometimes her voice slurred for no apparent reason.

14:53

Other times she put on a squeaky baby

14:55

voice, just like the one she created during her

14:57

exotic banter days. The Anna

14:59

Nicole Smith show earned E! record-setting

15:01

ratings when it debuted in 2002 to

15:04

over 7.5 million viewers.

15:06

It was the largest reality TV debut

15:08

at the time.

15:11

The Bubblegum Pop theme song introduced the cast.

15:13

There was Anna Nicole, Daniel, then a teenager,

15:16

her assistant Kim, her dog Sugar

15:18

Pie, and Howard K. Stern, titled

15:21

Lawyer. He got higher billing than poor

15:23

Sugar Pie. It all disappeared

15:25

as fast as it came, went the theme song.

15:28

And that's exactly what Daniel was worried about.

15:31

These days, his mother wasn't just ditzy.

15:34

Daniel thought she was drugged and

15:36

not by her own accord.

15:37

It was all Howard's fault, Daniel said. That

15:40

lawyer who thought he could play a doctor, Daniel

15:42

claimed Howard fed Anna Nicole quote-unquote

15:45

mind-bending drugs to keep her in a daze.

15:48

He hovered around her with what friends called

15:50

a goodie bag, brimming with pills to

15:52

provide for Anna Nicole as needed. Close

15:55

friends said they had seen Howard give Anna Nicole volume,

15:57

Vicodin, even morphine.

15:59

Daniel leaned in over the table to deliver

16:02

the kicker. He suspected Howard was doing

16:04

this every day, probably right

16:06

at this moment, even though Anna Nicole

16:08

was pregnant. Anna

16:10

Nicole and her baby bump were laying low in the

16:13

Bahamas, living in a rental home with Howard.

16:15

When the baby daddy was TBA or TBD,

16:18

even Daniel wasn't sure, but right now he

16:20

had no direct line of communication with his mother.

16:23

Howard hung up on Daniel every time he called. Other

16:26

loved ones claimed they got the brush off from Howard, too.

16:28

Jack Harding leaned back

16:29

in his chair, as Daniel stated his case.

16:33

It was the perfect setup for a Svengali.

16:35

Anna Nicole was overseas and unreachable. Soon,

16:38

Daniel's newborn baby sister would be caught up

16:40

in this mess, too, so the clock was ticking.

16:44

Daniel needed proof that his mother was in danger. Shit,

16:46

he could even be in danger himself if he was meddling

16:48

in Howard's affairs like this.

16:50

That's where Harding could step in and gather

16:52

some evidence.

16:54

Harding put all his cards on the table. He

16:56

would take the case, but he needed $300

16:59

an hour, plus some dough for airfare

17:01

and lodging. No money, no deal.

17:04

Daniel didn't have the money for a down payment on anything.

17:07

He had just enough to buy himself a plane ticket to

17:09

the Bahamas, so Daniel would

17:11

just do it himself. He

17:14

really should have waited. He should have

17:16

sent Jack Harding.

17:20

Anna Nicole Smith was wailing

17:22

from her hospital bed. No more sugary

17:25

baby talk. Now it was just howls

17:27

of pain. Anna Nicole's newborn

17:30

daughter was perfectly healthy and sleeping in the

17:32

nursery. Her 20-year-old son, Daniel,

17:34

was not. She crowded at the

17:36

foot of the hospital bed and tugged on her son's limp

17:39

leg. Doctors scattered around the

17:41

scene. He's not breathing. Can we resuscitate

17:43

him? Clear! Hospital

17:45

staff moved the second hospital bed from the room to make

17:47

room for more doctors with more medical equipment

17:50

and even more

17:50

questions. No matter how many people

17:52

crowded inside the room, no one could get Anna

17:54

Nicole to budge. She clung to her

17:56

son and pleaded for Jesus to take her instead.

17:59

but her savior had already made up his mind.

18:03

Daniel Smith was

18:05

dead. Anna

18:07

Nicole's last evening with her son was

18:10

blissful, simple, private, nothing

18:12

like those days when a camera followed him around

18:14

for a reality TV fodder.

18:16

When Daniel's plane touched down in the Bahamas

18:18

in September of 2006, Anna

18:20

Nicole had already delivered her new baby sister via

18:22

C-section and was recovering in her hospital

18:24

room.

18:25

Howard accompanied Anna Nicole to the hospital,

18:27

naturally.

18:28

He and Daniel played nice for the occasion.

18:30

While Anna Nicole and Daniel binged late night reality

18:33

TV, Howard picked up a dinner of fried

18:35

chicken strips for the family. That's

18:37

when Daniel started to feel winded. No

18:40

one thought anything of it. Sudden exhaustion

18:43

was easy to blame on jet lag. Everyone

18:45

passed out after a greasy feast. Anna

18:48

Nicole and Daniel shared one hospital bed

18:50

and Howard curled up on the other. Only

18:53

two of them woke up the next morning. Daniel

18:56

was declared dead at 10.05 a.m. on

18:58

September 6th, 2006.

19:02

The case baffled doctors.

19:05

Healthy 20-year-olds didn't just drop dead in their

19:07

sleep, especially when they had access to celebrity-level

19:09

healthcare. Without a clear cause of death,

19:12

Bahamian law mandated an autopsy. Medical

19:15

examiners couldn't find anything. No alcohol,

19:18

no cocaine, no opiates, no amphetamines. Instead,

19:21

investigators placed the blame on a toxic

19:23

combination of Lexapro, Zoloft, and

19:25

methadone. Only two-thirds of that

19:27

checked out. Daniel had prescriptions

19:30

for Lexapro and Zoloft, which are both commonly

19:32

used to treat depression and anxiety. Daniel

19:35

didn't have a heroin problem, so he didn't have a

19:37

prescription for methadone.

19:38

But Anna Nicole did. In fact,

19:41

someone had methadone on them the night Daniel died.

19:44

Investigators found two pills tucked

19:46

into the bed Howard used during his stay. The

19:49

same one they pulled into the hallway to make

19:51

more room for the doctors rushing to revive

19:53

Daniel. One was a muscle relaxant.

19:56

The other was methadone. And

19:58

in Daniel's shirt pocket.

19:59

Investigators found something else, a

20:02

business card for Detective Jack

20:05

Harding.

20:10

We'll be right back after this word,

20:12

word, word. Imagine

20:21

for a moment you're one of the most beautiful women

20:23

in the world, an undeniable 10, 5 feet 11

20:27

inches tall, blonde locks cascade

20:29

down your elegant neckline and pull everyone's

20:32

gaze to your 41 inch bust,

20:34

double D's at least with 700 milliliters

20:37

of fluid in each.

20:39

Your slim 26 inch waist struggles

20:41

to keep all that weight upright. Your spine,

20:44

it has to actively work against the force

20:46

of gravity that threatens to topple

20:48

you over. Keeping your head high and

20:50

your shoulders back, it's actual work.

20:53

The weight of your body's beauty yanks on your shoulder

20:56

blades, begging you to bend over and snap

20:58

like a pretty little twig. Not

21:01

that Anna Nicole Smith was anything

21:03

close to a twig. There's literal

21:05

weight to being one of the great beauties of the world.

21:08

Marilyn felt

21:09

it. Anna Nicole Smith was saddled

21:11

with a similar burden. If she was

21:13

going to stand tall during photo shoots with her implants,

21:16

she was going to need a little reinforcement like

21:18

Vicodin or Xanax. The

21:20

prescription started coming in the mid 90s and

21:23

never stopped. Anna Nicole couldn't

21:25

afford to stop. It wasn't just the implants.

21:28

Her body cramped up with discomfort every

21:30

day. Restless leg syndrome, insomnia,

21:32

seizures, migraines, name a body

21:34

part and it probably hurt like hell. Anna

21:37

Nicole famously asked,

21:39

like my body, as

21:41

a spokeswoman for Trim Spa in the early aughts

21:44

and in reality her hot bod was a

21:46

hot spot for misery. In

21:48

the Bahamas, nannies claimed Anna Nicole

21:50

took pills and paper cups every day. 6 to 10

21:53

pills per cup. One cup every

21:56

four hours. A grand total of 24 different

21:58

prescriptions at once.

21:59

The weaker Anna Nicole became,

22:02

the more pills she was prescribed. It

22:04

wasn't about being high. It was about the absence

22:07

of pain, the absence of all that

22:09

weight. Anna Nicole Smith would

22:11

do anything to shrug off that

22:14

weight.

22:16

February 5th, 2007, Hollywood, Florida

22:21

Anna Nicole Smith's head rolled against the back

22:23

seat of the limo. Her legs were jelly.

22:26

America's blonde bombshell looked ready to detonate.

22:28

Her longtime bodyguard lifted her out of the limo

22:30

and carried her inside the Hard Rock Hotel. She

22:33

was checked into her usual $1,600 a night suite

22:37

under her usual alias, Fred and Wilma

22:39

Flintstone. But nothing else about her stay

22:41

at the Hard Rock Hotel would

22:44

be usual. She was in Florida to pick up her new yacht,

22:46

a 39-footer she had christened the

22:48

cracker. In addition to Howard and her bodyguard,

22:51

Anna Nicole's psychiatrist and

22:53

personal nurse rounded out her crew. She

22:55

needed a crew, not just to pick up a

22:57

boat, but to keep herself from capsizing.

23:00

In the months after Daniel's death, she floated

23:02

between the bed and the couch every day in a numb,

23:05

drowsy rut. There was the grief, and

23:07

there was also the 24 different prescriptions she

23:09

allegedly juggled. The pain

23:11

just wouldn't ease up.

23:13

It likely stemmed from her daily injection

23:15

of B12 and human growth hormones that supposedly

23:18

kept her energy high and her body fat low.

23:21

So much for trim spa. By the time

23:23

she reached room 607 at the Hard Rock,

23:25

her body was boiling with 105-degree fever. You

23:29

don't sweat out a fever that severe. You're

23:31

more likely to die. But Anna

23:33

Nicole knew what happened the last time she was in a

23:35

hospital room. The memory of Daniel's

23:37

final night would have chilled her to the

23:39

bone if she wasn't burning up so badly. Daniel's

23:42

absence burdened Anna Nicole every day. His

23:45

death was the latest addition to the pile of

23:47

weight she balanced every day, the weight of her

23:49

body, the weight of the tabloids poking and

23:51

prodding into her life yet again. Another

23:53

trip to the hospital meant more intrusion in media

23:56

attention. More attention meant more

23:58

weight. Anna Nicole couldn't. take

24:00

anymore weight. She felt to press her

24:02

into the mattress in the master bedroom. The

24:05

springs threatened to give way. It felt

24:07

like she could sink through the bed, then the floor,

24:09

then through every story below her until

24:11

she landed with a thud at rock bottom. Even

24:14

though

24:14

it felt like she'd already found rock bottom right

24:17

here, right now in room 607. It

24:21

all disappeared as fast as it came. Anna

24:24

Nicole made a decision from the depths of her

24:26

stupor. No hospitals, no

24:29

ambulances, absolutely nothing to

24:31

draw attention.

24:32

Her team created a different treatment.

24:34

Her bodyguard sunk Anna Nicole's feverish

24:36

body into a bath of ice and cold water.

24:39

Her psychiatrist recommended some Tamiflu

24:41

and a potent antibiotic.

24:43

But there was another drug that was sure to help Anna

24:45

Nicole safely slip into dreamland

24:47

tonight. Chlorohydrate. AKA

24:51

Knockout Drops. A

24:53

popular sedative in the 1930s, not so much in 2007. It was

24:55

an odd choice, almost as odd

25:00

was the dosage, 5000 milligrams, 10

25:03

times more than the recommended dosage.

25:06

Anna Nicole was in fact knocked out

25:08

by the drops not long after 10pm.

25:11

And it worked, sort of. So

25:13

her team kept the chlorohydrate coming. She

25:16

took more 5000 milligram doses on Tuesday,

25:19

in between violent vomiting and diarrhea. Debris

25:22

now polluted the posh suite. Vomit

25:24

caked in the bathroom sink. Soiled towels

25:27

on the floor. Anna Nicole's nightstand

25:29

was a graveyard of soda cans and slim fast,

25:32

mixed with discarded packs of gum, nikorette,

25:34

and jars of PDLite. She

25:36

was borderline infantile. Her

25:38

weak, babyish body matched her

25:40

baby voice.

25:41

She crawled around like a toddler. On

25:44

Wednesday, her bodyguard found her naked

25:46

in the bathtub, minus the bathwater.

25:49

It felt like something worth mentioning to the shrink,

25:51

but the doc had already returned to the real

25:53

Hollywood earlier that day. Despite

25:56

the number of people around her, no one

25:58

on her team would say for sure if Anna

25:59

Nicole took more chlorohydrate Wednesday

26:02

evening. They didn't need to. The

26:04

autopsy results would reveal everything.

26:12

Thursday, February 8, 2007. No

26:15

one could understand why Howard K. Stern wouldn't

26:18

pipe the fuck down. He delegated with

26:20

authority. Howard, the bodyguard,

26:22

and the new captain of the cracker would pick up

26:24

Anna Nicole's yacht at noon.

26:26

Her nurse and the captain's wife would stay

26:28

with Anna Nicole in the meantime. That

26:30

plan was well and good, but it was also

26:32

kind of loud. Howard had been nothing

26:34

but overprotective and considerate for the past 24 hours.

26:38

He slept by Anna Nicole's side all night on

26:40

Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon,

26:43

Howard ordered the bodyguard and nurse to fetch

26:45

the yacht captain and his wife from the airport

26:47

specifically so he could remain by Anna

26:49

Nicole's side. But now, out

26:51

of the blue, he wanted a split, and

26:53

he couldn't even muster a whisper while Anna Nicole got

26:56

some rest in bed.

26:57

There was no time to argue with Howard's inconsistencies.

27:00

It was yacht o'clock at Royal Palm Yacht Basin

27:03

six miles from the Hard Rock Hotel.

27:05

The three men were out the door before anyone

27:07

could protest. And there was only one problem.

27:10

Howard had no reason to rush. The

27:12

appointment was for 1 PM, not

27:15

for noon.

27:39

The captain's wife knew something was

27:41

wrong from the look on Anna Nicole Smith's face.

27:43

It was her mouth. Her lips were frozen

27:46

in an O shape. Was

27:48

that a sigh of relief or a gasp

27:50

of terror? The captain's

27:52

wife tried to force Anna Nicole's stiff jaw

27:55

shut. Rigor Mortis wasn't having

27:57

it. She cried out to the nurse for help, and

27:59

the woman ripped heavy comfort her away from Anna Nicole's

28:01

body. The purple splotches all over

28:03

her face and body were easy to spot. She

28:06

was buck naked, but she never slept

28:08

naked. She collected oversized

28:10

t-shirts so she never had to sleep naked. Stop

28:13

it. It was no time to overanalyze. The

28:15

nurse pounded on Anna Nicole's chest to perform

28:17

CPR on bed, and the captain's wife

28:20

tweaked Anna Nicole's toes and waited for a reaction.

28:23

Nothing. Now was the time

28:25

to raise their voices. They screamed and cried

28:28

for Anna Nicole to do something. Anything.

28:29

They splashed water on her face. They

28:32

pulled back Anna Nicole's eyelids, and they

28:34

ran their hands over Anna Nicole's body for a Reiki

28:36

ritual. They tried everything.

28:39

Everything. Except calling 911.

28:43

1244 PM.

28:46

The nurse rings the bodyguard. Not once,

28:49

but four times. 122 PM.

28:51

The bodyguard calls the nurse. 124

28:53

PM. The bodyguard calls Howard. 126 PM. Howard

28:55

calls the

28:59

bodyguard. 131 PM.

29:01

The bodyguard dials the hotel liaison. Then

29:04

Howard calls the bodyguard four times in

29:07

three minutes. It wasn't until 138

29:09

PM that anyone bothered to call

29:12

emergency services. Anna Nicole's

29:14

warm body grew colder and stiffer

29:16

over the course of nearly an hour. By

29:18

the time police and first responders arrived,

29:21

there was little they could do for Anna Nicole aside

29:23

from center to the hospital. And all the

29:25

hospital could do was pronounce her dead

29:27

at 249 PM. Alone

29:30

at the Hard Rock Hotel, Howard crutched

29:32

down in the hallway and covered his face with his hands.

29:35

Somehow, he had more calls to make. He

29:37

rang Trim Spa, an attorney, and

29:40

Entertainment Tonight, in that order.

29:42

MSNBC aired three hours of coverage

29:44

surrounding Anna Nicole's death that day. The

29:47

news claimed she collapsed. Bullshit.

29:50

Anna Nicole didn't fall or faint suddenly. She

29:52

was tucked away in bed when she died. Weakened.

29:55

Deflated. Defeated. Anna

29:57

Nicole didn't collapse that day. The

29:59

weight. piling on top of her did.

30:05

We'll never know whether or not it was an

30:07

accident. We can't say a doctor

30:09

was negligent or if a peer had nefarious

30:11

intentions, but we can pinpoint the

30:13

blame on one thing for certain, chlorohydrate.

30:16

These knockout drops can be deadly if they react

30:19

with the wrong combination of chemicals found in

30:21

prescription drugs. Chlorohydrate

30:23

in a little carelessness is a killer that steals

30:26

stars overnight. At least that's

30:28

what the toxicology report said. Marilyn

30:31

Monroe died of an acute barbiturate poisoning

30:33

courtesy of a deadly dose

30:35

of chlorohydrate in thembitol. That's

30:37

right, chlorohydrate was also

30:40

in Marilyn Monroe's body when she died.

30:42

For more details on that, check out our two-part episode

30:45

on Norma Jean from season one of Badlands, but

30:47

I digress.

30:48

And chlorohydrate was also swimming in

30:50

an Echol system when she was whisked away on her

30:52

gurney on February 8th, 2007. Investigators

30:56

found a pharmacy of pills in

30:59

room 607 at the Hard Rock Hotel. 11 different

31:01

prescriptions tucked in dresser drawers on the nightstand

31:04

and in Howard's so-called goodie bag. Nine

31:06

medications were in Anna's body when she died,

31:09

all of them from her own prescriptions,

31:12

all except one. The

31:14

name on the bottle of chlorohydrate was

31:16

Howard K. Stern.

31:18

Not only was

31:20

the chlorohydrate not hers, she'd

31:22

been taking 10 times the normal dose

31:25

for 37 days before her

31:27

death.

31:28

Maybe the ritual would have continued if a crazy

31:30

cocktail of drugs during a feverish haze hadn't

31:33

pushed her over the edge. Two

31:35

blonde bombshells, two deadly

31:37

doses, the same sudden tragedy.

31:40

It's a coincidence so uncanny,

31:42

it ought to be in pictures.

31:45

I'm Jake Brennan, and

31:47

this is Badlands.

32:03

Badlands was created by me, Jake Brennan,

32:05

and produced by Double Elvis. Credits

32:07

for this episode can be found on the show notes page

32:10

at badlandspod.com. Subscribe,

32:12

follow, like, rate, and review the Badlands podcast

32:15

wherever you get your podcasts, because Badlands

32:17

is available everywhere. If you

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32:22

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32:27

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32:34

Good swaggerRAP.