Anna Nicole with Marshall’s Ashes are Laid to Rest
Howard K. Stern, Larry Birkhead and Virgie Arthur, the legal triangle feuding over Anna’s body, child and money have managed to summon around 100 guests for Anna Nicole Smith’s funeral, of the maximum 300 they were allowed to. Reportedly, each party could invite up to 100 guests.
The funeral, ending chapter one of the legal battle surrounding Anna, was quite fit for the former model. It was as over the top, lavish, kitsch and controversial as she was. And it attracted people’s interest as she did.
Anna was laid to rest in closed a mahogany coffin and covered in a pink shroud of feathers and ribbons and studded with rhinestones spelling out her name. Inside, Smith was dressed up in a pink couture gown emblazoned with a heart to signify that she died of a broken heart, wore a tiara and clutching an urn containing the ashes of her late husband, oil tycoon J Howard Marshall II, whom she married in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26.
The body was flown from Miami International Airport to the Bahamas Friday on a private plane. Before that, around 6 am, a motorcade took Anna’s body from the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office to Miami International Airport.
The service took place at the Mount Horeb Baptist Church under tight security, with the celebrity TV show Entertainment Tonight reportedly paying some 4 million dollars for the exclusive rights to the press coverage.
Inside the church, the organizers also employed the circus pink decorations. Pink roses and flower arrangements reportedly lined the aisle and adorned the altar. There were placed two photos of the blonde bombshell including one showing her in a shimmering white gown and striking a Marilyn Monroe-like pose.
Guests said rock guitarist Slash, formerly of Guns N’ Roses, was in attendance, and country singer Joe Nichols performed two songs.
At the grave site within Lakeview Memorial Gardens, she was put to rest next to Smith’s son Daniel. There, a small flock of doves was released and several escaped the large green tent erected to block the scene from spectators and the media.
Ruby Ann Darling, who described herself as Smith’s spiritual adviser, said Arthur, Stern and Birkhead each left pink and red roses on top of the coffin, reports Ireland Online.
Virgie Arthur, Anna’s estranged mother who contributed at least a week to the delay in Smith’s burial since her death on Feb. 8, was reportedly booed by onlookers when she appeared at the church. Apparently, the audience wasn’t pleased with the latest news that she tried again to block her daughter’s burial in Bahamas and asked a court to exhume Daniel too, so Virgie can "relocate" them in Texas. The last-minute bid for custody of the body was denied by Supreme Court Justice Anita Adams.
Howard Stern was received neutrally while Birkhead won some ovations. Reportedly, Arthur, Stern and Birkhead took turns at the service to eulogize Anna. Apparently, Stern took his time to talk about the legal wrangle, which appeared to be his main preoccupation at the moment.
"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," Birkhead said, quoted by AP.
The next episodes in the Anna Nicole circus will be daughter Dannielynn’s paternity/custody and the inheritance which could amount to pretty much if only a fraction of Howard Marshall’s fortune comes Dannielynn’s way.
While Howard Stern, Anna’s lawyer/drug supplier/maybe lover, is listed as Dannielynn’s father on the baby’s certificate, it is most likely that he isn’t the girl’s biological father.
"I’m just incredulous at all the fuss," said Christie Rathgaber, a 59-year-old nurse from Columbus, Ohio. "She was not a world figure. She was not a queen. She was not a president. She was not anything. … It’s just way over the top," she said, according to Ireland Online. She pretty much reflected the general feeling of people who were coincidentally at the funeral.
Dr. Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner, said he will announce Anna Nicole Smith’s cause of death next week. She died on Feb. 8 in a Florida hotel room. "This was a complex case," Perper said to AP. "It was an unusual case from a medical point of view."
