Anna Nicole Smith's name wasn't even Anna when she lived in Mexia, Texas, my hometown. She was in my brother's biology class, and he said she was a very quiet girl who sat in the back of the classroom, not particularly attractive. I suspect that she wasn't his star pupil.Everyone knows that she worked at Jim's Crispy Fried Chicken, married early, and went to Houston, where she changed the color of her hair (and perhaps had a few other augmentations), posed for some photos, and became famous. I expect that she achieved a success beyond her wildest imaginings, and she was hardly equipped to deal with it. If you saw any of her TV reality show, you know what the real Beverly Hillbillies would be like: a lot more sad than funny.
I suppose her early death was more or less to be expected, considering the tales of drug abuse that followed her around. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that her drug use had increased after the death of her son. The story of her life and career isn't tragic. It's more like pathetic. I hope her infant daughter gets some of those many millions that Anna Nicole has fought for in court for so long.
My brother doesn't like to talk to people about Anna Nicole. I just heard from him, and he has declined an on-camera interview with a Waco channel about Anna's death. He's implied to me that most people in Mexia are sort of ashamed of her. I think that's entirely the wrong attitude. To me, she's a great American story.
4 comments:
I saw this on Jeff Meyerson's mass e-mail and thought it was a hoax or joke of some sort. It's sad that she died, but her life was even sadder and she was obviously a space case of gallactic proportions.
Your addition to the lore makes it such a hardluck. too bad.
I think maybe she wanted to be Marilyn Monroe but lacked the talent and maybe the smarts.
I can't help but wonder if the people who tried to describe Anna Nichole as a latter day Marilyn really understood the qualities that Marilyn had or were just focussed on the most blatantly obvious similarities. Certainly Smith herself picked up on that, but comparing Smith to Marilyn is like people who think a Bulgarian bootleg of Windows Vista is the same as one that shipped from Microsoft. I feel for her and everything she went through in her life including the recent fight over the paternity of her daughter, but Anna Nichole is a sideshow that won't endure or fascinate in the way that Marilyn still does.
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