While many assumed that then-26-year-old Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith would eventually cash in on her marriage to J. Howard Marshall II, nothing could be further from the truth.
As reported by The New York Times, Smith's husband of fewer than two years died on August 5, 1995, at the Park Plaza Hospital in Houston. The kicker: his new will did not include his new bride. Per NBC News, Marshall's will left Smith out entirely and she was left with nothing save the 8 million worth of extravagant gifts that he had bestowed her prior to his death. Still, Smith wasn't going down without a fight.
It's reported that during a courtroom showdown wherein Smith fought tooth and nail to inherit half of her late husband's fortune, things got particularly contentious between Smith and Marshall's son, E.Pierce Marshall's attorney, Rusty Hardin. After declaring her love for her late husband on the stand, Hardin accused Smith of taking acting lessons. "Screw you, Rusty," Smith shouted back in a defiant act of retaliation for all the courtroom to hear, per BuzzFeed News. The highly-publicized battle went on for years and sadly, Smith tragically died in 2007 in the midst of it due to an accidental prescription drug overdose, per The New York Times. Finally, in 2010, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Marshall's son. In turn, Smith's only living child, her daughter Dannielynn Birkhead, was left nothing, per Reuters.
