OUTRAGEOUS EPISODE NINE: CURSUM PERFICIO

“Here ends my journey”

How will Anna survive the loss of her one true love? Especially when he keeps calling for her in her dreams… 

Years into her dependency on prescription drugs, pregnant Anna prays to die before she miscarries. She’s not hoping for either, obviously, but she’s not stupid. She knows what she’s doing. She just can’t stop.

Larry empathizes with Anna, but he really doesn’t understand. If this pregnancy is her dream come true, how could she be willing to jeopardize it one pill at a time?

He prays for her, then he pleads with her. That’s when he becomes a problem. A liability. He knows too much and now has the gull to think he could can change her. That he can change this whole family with his love.

Anna runs away to the Bahamas. With Howard by her side, of course. They’re done with Larry. In the Bahamas, they’ll be able to avoid the paternity testing he will undoubtably want. The daughter he undoubtably wants.

Anna loves Larry, but not enough to change for him.

In this way, Anna’s new life in the Bahamas is a lot like her old one in LA. It’s isolated and lonely, even with a baby in her uterus.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to Studio City. Before the Bahamas.

A duvet cocooned around her, Anna watches a couple of Fox News anchors discuss her life. Again. On screen, the lower third says: “PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH & ANNA NICOLE SMITH: UNUSUAL BEDFELLOWS.”

They cut to a special correspondent who discusses the Bush administration’s take on the Marshall vs Marshall case. 

“The Bush administration not only filed arguments on Smith’s behalf but also asked to participate in the actual supreme court case,” the anchor says. “They want to help argue against the precedent that says state courts control probate issues and increase the authority of federal jurisdiction. In Smith’s case, this could mean finally accessing her inheritance after more than a decade of court battles.” 

Anna slides completely under her silky sheets, but not before we see the big smile on her face. 

OUTRAGEOUS

FEBRUARY 28, 2006 

Outside the Supreme Court, Anna descends the grand staircase along with Howard, Daniel and members of her security team. Cameramen from every news station imaginable film her every move. Journalists and photographers hurl their cameras and mics her way. A police escort clears a path through the clamorous crowd for Anna.

Anna keeps her head down and avoids eye contact with everyone. She’s shielded by her huge black sunglasses. This is a far cry from the days when she treated court dates like movie premieres. At the Supreme Court, she’s silent. We’ve never seen her ignore fans or cameras like this before. She’s worn down. And she’s been warned.

Suddenly, a photographer jumps in front of her to take a photo straight on. She raises her hand toward her face, erecting an imaginary barrier between her and him, her and the public. He snaps the photo anyway. 

Daniel trails behind, lost in the chaos. A massive throng of onlookers. Tons of Capitol Hill workers in business attire on their lunch breaks. For them, this moment is a Hollywood tabloid come to life. Daniel watches people as they watch his mom. Most of them gawk, snicker and cackle as she passes. Finally, he locks eyes with a middle-aged gay man. “You have the most beautiful mom in the world,” he shouts with a Southern twang. Daniel nods and hurries to catch up with her. 

A van awaits and they all pile in. Once inside, Anna’s chest heaves with anxious breath. She finds a small palmful of pills tucked away in her purse and chugs them back with a warm Diet Coke. 

“Are you allowed to drink Diet Coke when you’re pregnant?” Daniel asks her. 

Anna nods “yes.” 

Howard bounces with adrenaline and glows with pride. 

“Well can we talk about it?,” Howard asks. 

“Howard, c’mon,” Anna whines, tired. 

“Six weeks until the opinion,” Howard teases. “Six weeks and we’re back in business.” 

Anna exhales deeply. 

“Always dreaming of tomorrow, aren’t we guys?” Anna asks. She’s sick of wasting her life in court. She nuzzles her head on Daniel’s shoulder. 

Back in Los Angeles, Anna distresses all over her bedroom. She shakes and convulses as tremors pass through her body. She cries to Larry that she is trying to “detox” and needs help. She packs a bag. He asks her to sit and relax, that he’ll do it for her, but she refuses. 

You know how pregnant women clean in preparation for their baby’s arrival? Four months pregnant, Anna’s version of nesting is getting clean for the first time in a long time. 

“I’m not an addict,” she says, eyes dilated and forehead beading with sweat. 

“I just think you’re prescribed way too many medications,” Larry tells her. 

“Well, I’ve got a whole lot wrong with me,” Anna snaps. “Do you want me to be in pain?” 

He doesn’t answer; he doesn’t know how to. 

“I tried. Look what fucking happens when I try to be good,” Anna says. “I can’t fucking take it, Larry. Maybe I am an addict, but I don't mean to be.” 

Anna, flanked by Larry and Howard, uses the private, celebrity entrance at Cedars Sinai. 

During an intake with a female psychologist, Anna refuses to respond and makes Howard answer for her. 

It’s hard to tell who this surprises more, the psychologist or Larry. Anna ignores the doctor. She asked to come here for detox, worried about her pregnancy, but refuses to engage. Until the doctor places her palm on top of Anna’s shoulder as if to say, “We’ve got this.”  

“Can you get the fuck out of here?” Anna asks the doctor. “Right fucking now?” 

“Sorry,” Larry starts. 

“No, no fucking sorry! Leave!” Anna screams, now at both Larry and the doctor. 

Back in the hospital room the next day, the doctor tells Anna she’ll keep her on methadone for now, but that they will be immediately removing her from Valium, Xanax and all of the other benzodiazepines she takes.

Larry listens to the doctor while Howard shuffles paperwork on his chair in the corner. 

“After we get you through that, we’ll create a structured plan to regulate your methadone use,” the doctor continues. 

“Can you just give me something that will make me better forever?” Anna asks.

Howard and Larry follow the doctor out of the room. Larry apologizes to her again, but out of Anna’s earshot this time. The doctor ducks into another room and Howard and Larry proceed toward the soda machine together. 

“Have you ever tried to get her clean before?” Larry starts. 

“No,” says. Howard punches the soda machine twice and two Diet Cokes tumble out. 

“What about the borderline personality disorder thing?” Larry asks. “Anna won’t accept it.” 

Howard cracks open a Diet Coke and takes an awkwardly long sip. 

“It’s Anna’s way or the highway,” Howard tells Larry with a shrug. 

Over the next few days, Larry and Howard each attend to Anna in the hospital. 

“Why can’t Kimmy come visit me?” Anna asks the guys. 

“They only allow two visitors at a time,” Howard answers. He eyes Larry in a way that suggests he doesn’t think he belongs there. 

Another afternoon, Anna fills out a baby book for her baby-to-be. A two-page scrapbook spread has spaces for the thumbprints from the mommy, daddy and baby. Anna presses her inky thumb onto the cards and then invites Larry to do the same. Larry kisses Anna’s cheek, teary. 

Anna notices Howard watching them like a hawk, so she draws another box and and labels it “Uncle Howard” in her handwriting. She asks him to leave his thumbprint and Howard beams with happiness as he does so. Larry says nothing.

One day, Larry returns to the hospital room and finds nobody there. No trace of Anna. 

He sits down and uses the hospital phone to call Howard’s cell phone. 

Howard answers. We see him in an older model limousine with Anna. She sucks on her baby bottle of methadone. He hands her the phone once he hears Larry’s voice. 

“We’re going home,” Anna tells Larry, as if she’s announcing good news. 

“Can we talk about this for a minute?” Larry asks. 

“No,” Anna answers. 

“I’m worried about the baby,” Larry says. “About you and her.” 

“We’ll be fine,” Anna says. She hangs up and blesses herself with the sign of the cross. 

That night at home, Anna hides drugs all over her bedroom and bathroom, finding new stash spots to throw Larry and anyone else off. Unfortunately, Larry catches her in the act. 

“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” Larry asks Anna. “I never thought you’d keep taking this shit once you got pregnant.” 

“I can’t stop or else I’ll lose the baby, that’s what happened last time” Anna explains calmly. “I can’t lose another baby, Larry.” 

Larry sobs into Anna’s arms and she consoles him. 

Back to the Supreme Court. This time we’re inside. The nine justices sit in order of their seniority on the bench: Chief Justice John Roberts, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito. 

Justice Bader Ginsburg (RBG) is the only woman on the court. She reads the Marshall vs Marshall opinion in open court. It’s unanimously in favor of Anna, known in court as Vickie. 

"The probate exception does not bar federal courts from adjudicating matters outside those confines and otherwise within federal jurisdiction," says RBG. “A federal appeals court improperly kept Smith from pursuing her case. Trial courts, both federal and state, often address conduct of the kind Vickie alleges.” 

Back in LA, Howard and Anna sit on a Coffee Bean patio. When Howard gets a text saying the opinion is being expressed, they rush to his car. “Turn on NPR,” Howard instructs Anna. “What channel is that?” Anna asks. Howard reaches over and finds 89.9 just as the broadcaster begins discussing their case. 

“This soap opera hasn't been cancelled yet, even by the Supreme Court… Writing for the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that Anna Nicole's claim against Pierce Marshall is a widely recognized claim of wrongful interference with an inheritance or gift that is within the jurisdiction of the federal courts. The Justices, however, sent the case back to the lower courts for further proceedings on a number of questions, meaning that after 11 years the litigation is still nowhere near an end.

Indeed, within minutes of the announcement of today's Supreme Court opinion, Pierce Marshall released a statement saying that the ruling was on a technical issue and proclaiming that he would fight on to disprove what he called Anna Nicole Smith's false claims and libelous accusations. He will fight on in hopes to remain the soul heir. So tune in next time, as they say, for the next episode of Marshall vs. Marshall. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington,” the announcer says. 

As they listen, tears well in both Anna and Howard's eyes. These two have been a losing team for a long time, but this feels like their biggest win yet. Anna reaches over for Howard’s hand and squeezes it lovingly. 

“Thank you,” she tells him from the bottom of her heart. 

In her kitchen a few days later, Anna ridicules Howard’s press release about her pregnancy. She reads it off a chunky laptop. 

“If she’s not pregnant, she’s not denying the rumor because she thinks it’s funny how much of a stir it’s causing. She’ll leave it up to you to guess which one it is,” Anna reads back to him. 

“I mean, what kind of riddle is that? You make me sound like a desperate idiot. And I’m not desperate,” Anna jokes.  

“I think people think you’re funny, I just don’t think you’re funny,” Anna teases him, loving it. 

“You knew the plan before I said anything,” Howard huffs. “You write the next one then.” 

Anna decides to take the pregnancy announcement video in her own hands. Imagine her DIY production process. Howard rakes the yard and waters the plants. Daniel charges his batteries and inserts a new memory card into his camera. Anna bathes her white Maltese Marilyn and dries her pink bikini bottoms on a line.

When it’s time to shoot, Kimmy stands in the pool in a t-shirt and shorts as Anna reclines on an inflatable raft, Marilyn on her lap. Kimmy swims over to Anna to reposition the raft before they roll. Kimmy pushes the raft over to make sure Anna gets good light. 

“Let me stop all the rumors. Yes, I am pregnant. I’m happy, I’m very very happy about it. Everything’s goin’ really, really good and I’ll be checking in and out periodically on the Web and I’ll let you see me as I’m growing on my official website,' ' Anna says into the camera. 

“Cut!” Anna shouts, satisfied. “Gosh, I should have been a movie director.” 

“You’d be a great director,” Kimmy giggles. “You direct all of us.” 

Anna splashes her but gets mad when Kimmy splashes back. 

We cut to another day at home with Anna. She packs baby clothes into a big suitcase. 

“Are you two excited to be aunties?” Anna asks. “Are you gonna nanny dogs? Like in Peter Pan? I wanna be Tinkerbell because she’s beautiful and speaks a fairy language and I, I just really like her attitude. She’s bratty but also so kind.” 

Howard storms in.  “Anna,” he begins. 

“Howard, I’m so glad you’re here,” Anna says. “I need my prescriptions refilled and I’ve been craving Taco Bell like crazy ever since, like, Monday” 

“I have news,” Howard says. 

Anna’s heart sinks. 

“Good news or bad news?” Anna asks. 

“Pierce Marshall died,” Howard says. “He went septic. I’m not sure what this means for the case--” 

Before he can spit out all the details, Anna begins to sob and the sound drowns him out. 

Howard freezes up. He wasn’t expecting her to react this way. 

“Why do people have to die?” Anna chokes out, overwhelmed by mortality.

She slumps to the floor and lays her face on the cold tile but her hands never leave her stomach. 

Howard stoops low to comfort her. He doesn’t know what to say. They always hated Pierce. 

“Life is so precious,” Anna whispers, barely able to get the words out. 

The sun sets over the Hollywood Hills as Anna sobs.

—

In the blink of an eye, we are on the eastern end of New Providence Island in the Bahamas. Anna watches the sunrise over the turquoise water from the backyard of her new seaside estate. She keeps her two hands on her pregnant tummy. 

Howard brings out two cans of Diet Coke and they crack them open as the sun begins to fill the yard with light. 

“Larry won’t stop calling,” he tells her. “Despite everything I’ve said about him, he’s no dumb fuck. He already knows what we’re doing.” 

Anna says nothing, pretending to lose herself in the beautiful Caribbean landscape around her. 

“He just looks like a dumb fuck,” Howard clarifies. “But I’m glad the plan is finally in motion.” 

“I miss Daniel,” Anna says. “I wish he would have come with us.”  

“He’ll be here visiting soon,” Howard says. “When the new baby comes, you’ll have your first born with you too.” 

Anna smiles and raises her arms in the air, letting them sway in the dewy, island breeze. 

“Poor Kimmy,” Anna says. “I feel bad. I love her.” 

“She’s moving to the desert Anna,” Howard says. “She’s gonna get a 9-5 job and continue to grapple with her sexuality among the vast community of desert lesbians. 

“I wish I gave her a real goodbye,” Anna says. “I just didn’t know how.” 

“Just look at this,” Howard gestures to the water. “You came here to relax.” 

They gaze at the beautiful water, but it feels like a lot is bubbling under the surface of their quiet. 

We see the name of the estate etched into one of the walls: “Horizons.” 

As we reach the front yard, we see the heavy gate in front of Anna’s house, then another gate outside Anna’s neighborhood, then another at the entrance of the community. A series of barriers closing her in on herself. Or protecting her. Depending on how you look at it. 

At Valley College, Ray begs Daniel to get out of his dusty, old car (the same one from the decade before) and go register for new classes.  

“Why would I register for new classes when I failed the old ones?” Daniel asks. 

“You failed because you never showed up,” Ray says. “Why are you trying to play dumb with me? What happened to film school? Why did we tour USC and UCLA then?” 

“And if I ever got in, who’s gonna pay? Who is going to pay?” Daniel asks. “My mom? Please.” 

Ray struggles for an answer even though he has something in mind. Anxiety pumps through Daniel’s body. 

“Well, you know, the --” Ray starts. 

Daniel punches the glove compartment. 

“Don’t you fucking say the settlement!” Daniel screams. “Fuck that fucking settlement! It’s never fucking coming, okay Ray? So if that’s why you’ve given a shit about me all these years, just stop! The money’s not coming Ray! I swear on my life. Do you know how long we’ve been waiting for that money to come? My whole fucking life! Money’s always on it’s way, ok, but it never fucking shows up! And everything’s always going to be ok, that’s what she says, but it never fucking is. So shut the fuck up about the fucking ‘settlement!’”

Ray starts the car and drives away. 

Some days later, Ray tries to help Daniel as he has a nervous fit around the apartment. 

Daniels scratches his arms maniacally. He draws blood but keeps going. 

“There’s bugs under my skin,” Daniel rages as he scratches. “Why?!” 

Ray starts the car and heads home. 

“How do I stop it, Ray?” Daniel screams. “There’s bugs under my skin!”

Ray ducks into the hallway to let his own tears fall without Daniel seeing. 

Later, Ray cradles Daniel as he sobs and wails on the couch. 

“I hate my life,” Daniel whimpers. 

Ray squeezes him tighter, fatherly and strong. 

“I hate my life!” Daniel shouts. “I’m sorry, but I do.” 

His heartbreak turns back to rage, protecting himself after exposing such vulnerability. 

“You’re not even my father,” Daniel says to Ray. “Where the fuck is he?”  

Before Ray can react, Daniel beelines for the front door and grabs Ray’s keys. He sprints to the car and leaves. 

A hospital room in Burbank. Daniel lays sedated in his hospital bed. Ray visits. 

“I used to think my mom was fun-crazy,” Daniel tells Ray. “Until I realized we’re both crazy-crazy. We come from a long line of crazy fucks.” 

“You’re not crazy Daniel,” Ray says. “Don’t say that. The doctors are figuring out the best treatment plan for you. You’re just going through a bad time. It’s only temporary. ” 

“I love my mom,” Daniel insists. “But I don’t want to spend my whole life getting high to survive like her.” 

In the Bahamas, Anna floats in her pool. Her pregnant belly bobs up over the water. An open bottle of methadone sits at one edge of the pool. Anna’s gaze rests on the huge, blue sky above. With her neck on the water and chin in the air, she says her prayers aloud. 

“Please God, please keep her healthy. Please God bless her with good health. Please give Dannielynn the best life in the world, full of love, joy and health. With everything she needs. Thank you for blessing me with this baby, Lord,” Anna says. “She doesn’t deserve to suffer for my mistakes.” 

Anna plunges deep underwater and relaxes. She enjoys weightlessness. Quiet. Privacy.  

“Take me before her,” Anna whispers to God. “Only if you have to, please.” 

In LA, Larry leaves Anna a voicemail, “There’s nothing you can do that will keep me from our child.”

Life in the Bahamas appears innocent but feels grotesque. We cut to Anna and Howard in the backyard at Horizons. Anna’s face is painted like a clown: completely white with green eyebrows, black circles for eyes and an exaggerated red mouth.

She looks like The Joker. If The Joker was high as fuck on liquid methadone and pills. 

Riley, 9, a little girl in vacation cornrows and a bathing suit, hangs out with Anna and Howard outside. A laptop sits at the side of the pool, dangerously close to the water, next to a baby doll. Camera in hand, Howard films everything. 

“What do you think Anna, is Riley gonna be your new makeup artist?” Howard asks from behind his camera. 

Riley applies more makeup with a tiny little brush. 

“I don’t know,” Anna purrs, even slower than usual. She shuts her eyes as Riley works. 

“You can open your eyes,” Riley tells her. 

“You said close em,” Anna jokes, high on Methadone but highly engaged in playing with Riley. 

“I wish we could go on the waterslide,” Riley says. “But you’re pregnant.” 

“A waterpark?” Anna asks. “I wanna go.” 

“You can’t!” Riley reminds her. 

“Why not?” Anna whines. 

“Because your baby,” Howard says. Anna plays up her cluelessness for the camera, as always, but first Riley and now Howard treat her like she’s being dead serious. 

“My baby’s over there, sleepin’” Anna nods toward the pool. 

Howard zooms onto her belly, hardly evident under her orange sarong. 

“I think I just had a little gas,” Anna jokes. 

“Say that again,” Howard instructs her. 

“I think I’m having some gas trouble,” Anna stammers as she rubs her pregnant belly. 

“Why aren’t you pooting then, or does it hurt?” Riley asks her matter-of-factly. 

“I need some gas poot stuff so I can poot it out,” Anna says. She rolls her eyes, as if she’s charming the camera, but the mix of her methadone high and The Joker makeup don’t help her land any jokes. 

“The clown needs some medicine,” Riley looks into Howard’s camera and says. 

“Look how big my belly’s getting, cuz it’s gas,” Anna teases Riley. 

“It’s your baby,” Riley corrects her, still applying more makeup. 

“Nuh, uh,” Anna says, clearly enjoying teasing Riley despite her sedation. 

“The clown doesn’t need gas medicine, she needs baby medicine,” Riley hams to the camera again. 

“You know when you’re having gas and you’re like, ‘Owwww?’” Anna asks Riley. 

“That’s your baby kicking you,” Riley says, getting louder and louder. 

“My baby’s over there,” Anna tells her, playing comedian. 

Riley marches over in her little bikini and grabs the toy babydoll by the pool. 

“It isn’t real!” Riley says. 

“Wait,” Howard tells Riley. “Let me get a shot of the baby.” 

Riley returns the baby doll back to her first mark by the open laptop. 

Howard zooms in on the baby doll and holds the camera on it. 

“Ok,” he says and Riley grabs the baby back. 

Riley brings the baby over to Anna but before she shows it to her, stops and tells the camera, “She’s having brain trouble.” 

Anna plays with Riley’s coloring books, makeup and other pink girly toys. 

“Do you think now is a good time to announce the sex of your baby?” Howard asks her. 

Anna holds the baby and rests her on her chest. 

“She’s fake!” Riley says. 

We begin to hear the peaceful, romantic song “Angel Baby” by Rosie & The Originals in the background. Did Howard turn it on? Did God? Who knows. But it plays as all this goes down. 

“Riley, talk to me,” Howard says. 

“She has major brain trouble,” Riley tells his camera. “It’s a battery baby.” 

Despite being a child, Riley engages with Howard like she’s ready for a reality show of her own. 

“How do you know that’s not a real baby?” Howard asks. 

“Howard!” Riley huffs and crosses her arms. Riley takes the baby doll away from Anna and walks up the white villa steps with it. 

Anna follows.

“I’m gonna get up and give the baby her binkie, because she doesn’t know how to take care of a baby,” Anna tells Howard. 

We see the beautiful ocean reflected in the doors to get inside. All the while, “Angel Baby” still plays. 

Anna finds them in the nursery, the doll on a changing pad. 

“Anna, she’s fake!” Riley says. 

“Did you put powder on her apple?” Anna asks. 

“I couldn’t find it,” Riley tells her. 

The baby coos and says mama. Anna nuzzles down and kisses it. 

Howard’s camera shows a bright hallway with nobody in it. The music stops. 

“I just cut the music,” Howard says to himself, or maybe to an imaginary editor he envisions working with the footage in the future. “It’s probably too late. This whole tape could be unusable. This footage is worth money.” 

Back in LA, Larry sits in the dark in his shitty hotel room and watches Entertainment Tonight discuss how well Anna’s doing in the Bahamas as she awaits her delivery. Larry sucks down a Coors Light and eats big globs of vanilla ice cream straight from the tub. 

We cut to Howard racing full-speed down a road in the Bahamas. He drives like crazy until he reaches his destination, the hospital. 

He runs inside with his camera and the receptionist tells him Anna’s in recovery. 

“Did I fucking miss it?” Howard shouts. He fiddles with his camera as he runs toward the recovery room, ready to get the shot. Howard presses record as he enters Anna’s room. She lays on the surgical table. 

“I am freaking out,” Anna says into Howard’s camera. 

In her drug-induced stupor, the words sound a lot calmer than your stereotypical shrieking pregnant lady. 

“You’re gonna do great,” Howard tells Anna. 

“Oh my god, I’m having a baby,” she tells him. 

The doctors prepare her for the C-section. Howard shoots Anna from the side, capturing her face, big belly and spread legs all in the frame. 

“She wants us to cut real low so she can wear a bikini,” one doctor tells another, who nods. 

“Are you sure you want me to film this? We don’t have to film this,” Howard asks Anna loudly, making sure his words and her consent are caught loudly on tape. 

“Shoot it, shoot everything. I want to see her come out,” Anna instructs Howard. 

Always “on,” she too knows the importance of the money shot even in a moment like this. 

We see a surgeon cut into her abdomen in graphic detail. 

“I want to see my baby. I want to see my baby. I want to see her,” Anna yells in nervous pain. The anxiety and fear she felt throughout her entire pregnancy pours out. 

“I can feel everything,” Anna cries. “That pain medicine’s not working.” 

“I’ve given you the maximum anesthetic for your weight,” the anesthesiologist begins. “Your tolerance is really high.” 

The surgeon interrupts him – “Anna, we just need another minute or two and then we’ll do whatever we can to make you more comfortable.” 

Anna closes her eyes and the surgeon pulls on the baby with a pair of forceps. 

Howard cries as he films the close up shot of the baby being pulled from her abdomen. 

The arrival of a new soul into this world! LIFE! 

We see the baby hang upside down head first while the doctors cut her umbilical cord. We see the surgeon suture her open womb closed. The baby cries with a big open mouth on her way to meet Anna. 

A nurse places the baby against Anna’s chest and Anna sobs thunderously as she holds her. 

“You are so beautiful,” she tells her baby. 

The next day, we find Anna in her recovery bed fully dressed and in full make-up. She glows, baptized by the beauty of her baby and the fact that both of them survived the delivery healthily. 

She holds her baby as she speaks to Daniel on speakerphone. 

“You are going to love her so much,” Anna tells Daniel. “Wait until you see her perfect face.” 

We see Daniel in his car in LA, grinning ear to ear. 

“She’s so little,” Anna tells Daniel. “Do you like her name?”

“Dannielynn?” Daniel asks. “Of course.” 

“You know why I picked it right?” Anna asks. 

“Why?” Daniel asks sweetly, humoring her. 

“Because you’re Daniel and I’m Vicki Lynn,” Anna says. “And she’s our Third Musketeer.” 

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Daniel says. “And to see you.” 

This brings tears of relief to his eyes. And hers. 

A man in a suit with a small camera crew emerges into Anna’s room and she gestures to them to wait one minute. 

“Danny, I’ve got to go do this interview,” Anna says. “Watch me on Entertainment Tonight, tonight. Ok?” 

“Love you mom,” Daniel tells her. 

Meanwhile, Entertainment Tonight takes over another hospital room and prepares to shoot. A large TV is set up as part of the stage. 

Anna waltzes in once the crew rests in place, ready to go. The host rises from his seat to greet Anna once again. Then Howard joins and takes his seat next to Anna. 

An edited cut of the gory delivery video Howard filmed yesterday fills the TV screen and Anna watches it alongside Howard and the host. 

“They thought the baby was too big and they were gonna bust my womb so they had to do a cesarean,” Anna says. 

“Luckily, the camera kept me a little distant from everything as it went on,” Howard says. 

“It felt like God and Jesus were ripping my insides out of my body,” Anna says. “And like the devil was yanking my insides from my legs and were playing tug-of-war. If you can imagine that. I swear. But the pain went away when I saw her.” 

“Do you remember what you were feeling there?” the host asks. 

“Pain,” Anna says. “I thought I was going to die.” 

We cut to Larry at home in his living room in Kentucky that evening. 

He turns the TV to Entertainment Tonight and watches his daughter take her very first breath. Along with the rest of America. 

We cut to the next night. Around 10 p.m., Howard pulls up to the Nassau Airport and picks up Daniel. 

“Have you been taking Trimspa?” Howard jokes. “You look so skinny.” 

Daniel laughs, amenable and in a good mood. 

He reaches across the front seat and hugs Howard. 

At the hospital, Daniel kisses his mom and sister. Anna squeals. Howard instructs all three of them to pose for his camera around the hospital bed. 

Daniel doesn’t rush to hold Dannielynn because Anna is busy holding him. 

“I missed you so much pumpkin,” Anna tells Daniel. “We can never go that long without seeing each other again.” 

“Whatever you say,” Daniel laughs.

“What, you didn’t miss me?” Anna asks, teasing and begging for his affection as usual. 

“I missed you everyday,” Daniels tells Anna.

Finally, Daniel reaches for his baby sister and holds her for the first time. Anna feels better than she has in a long time, maybe ever. Howard snaps a family photo of the three of them. 

The family chit chats and eats vending machine snacks until bedtime. Anna dozes off as Howard creates a bed for himself with blankets and towels on the floor. Dannielynn sleeps in her crib next to the bed. 

Howard uses spare blankets and pillows to build himself a bed on the floor. He insists Daniel take the second bed in the hospital room. Daniel refuses. 

“Please take the bed,” Daniel reasons. “I know I’m not gonna be able to fall asleep right away.” 

“Jetlag?” Howard asks. 

Daniel gets cozy on the floor and watches old sitcom reruns. 

We cut to early the next morning, before sunrise. Everyone is still where we left them, the family peacefully asleep. When Anna wakes up to use the bathroom, her feet kick close to Daniel’s head. He gets up and escorts her, still fragile, to the bathroom, their arms locked at the elbows.  

On their way back from the bathroom, a nurse doing her rounds peaks in and spots Daniel holding her hand. She looks on as he tucks Anna back into bed. Daniel catches the nurse’s eye and smiles. Through a crack in the window, we see a beautiful sunrise over the ocean. 

“Everything’s so beautiful here,” Anna whispers to Daniel. Once the nurse leaves, Daniel curls into bed with Anna. Her arms wrap around his body and his face rests on her chest. She strokes his cheek with her finger, relieved to have her baby back at her side. He poofs the ends of a section of her hair, rubbing and enjoying the texture like it's his favorite blanket. They cuddle each other back to sleep. 

A couple hours later, about 9:30 a.m Dannielynn wakes in her crib and gently whimpers. Anna wakes up and hears Howard’s snores in the bed next to her. Before she can enjoy waking up next to Daniel, she senses something off with him. She shakes his hand to wake him off but quickly drops it, scared. She starts nudging him until she’s fully shaking him. Daniel doesn’t respond but the noise wakes Howard up. Dannielynn starts crying. 

“Howard!” Anna bellows, holding nothing back. She tries to get out of the bed but Daniel’s body is so heavy she feels pinned in by it. 

Howard grabs Dannielynn from the crib and soothes her. 

“He’s not breathing!” Anna cries. 

Anna and Howard shout and a team of doctors storm in and try to resuscitate Daniel. Anna lays there as they do everything they can to wake her son up. Eventually, they ask her to move. She refuses. 

“We’re sorry,” the doctor begins. 

“NO!” Anna shouts. “No! You save him!”

Her guttural cries send chills throughout the entire hospital. 

“Jesus, take me instead! Please don’t make me trade one baby for the other!” Anna wails. “Take me instead! Take me instead! Please!” 

Anna jumps back into bed with Daniel. She holds his entire body against hers and cries. 

“We did all we could,” the doctor whispers.

That’s it. He’s gone. Daniel overdosed and died in bed next to his mom, his newborn sister at his side.

Anna kisses his corpse and then demands Howard snap a final photo of them together. 

Howard struggles to find his digital camera but finally locates it in his pant pocket from the night before. Anna is the Virgin Mary and Daniel is Jesus, dead and draped across her body. Howard snaps a series of Pieta images.

With his head tilted, Daniel’s green eyes open a little. Anna looks into them, completely gutted. Her firstborn dead in her arms. 

“What happened Daniel? What happened to you baby?” Anna asks Daniel. 

Anna worried about losing Dannielynn her entire pregnancy. Now that she’s relieved of that anxiety, she’s met with Daniel’s shocking death. This is hell. 

“God!” Anna roars. “Please take me!” 

Anna feels like she’s in hell. She can’t help but think of the logic she was raised on – if you end up in hell, you must have damned yourself there. 

We cut to Kimmy at home in her small Palm Desert apartment, red-faced with tears and dressed in her medical scrubs. Cable news blares on the TV, reporting on Daniel’s death. Their brief commentary labels it a probable overdose and includes overt mentions of Anna’s potential culpability for her son’s death. Kimmy sits on a rolling chair near her computer and opens a pink-themed gossip blog to read more. Before she can click a specific article, there it is...huge on the home page… a photo of Anna in the hospital bed holding Daniel’s dead body. 

Kimmy fixates on the photo because she can’t believe it’s really there for her to see. Is she going crazy? She shoves herself away from the screen and rushes to the bathroom to vomit. 

A couple of weeks later, Anna sleeps in her bedroom at the house in the Bahamas. Pitch black in the middle of the day. No snores. No screams. Eerie silence. 

In another part of the house, the nanny cradles tiny Dannielynn while the other tickles her infant belly. The locals whisper to each other in Bahamian Creole; we read the English translations. 

“I read she fucked her son’s girlfriend,” the housekeeper says. 

“I heard she fucked her son,” the nanny replies. 

“I read she killed him,” the housekeeper says. “And he helped.” 

She nods to the outdoor patio, where we spot a depressed Howard sitting in grief. 

“Wow, you have to take everything too far,” the nanny says, shifting Dannielynn away from her friend. 

They giggle. They’re not mean, just navigating new levels of absurdity in their daily life. 

“She needs Jesus,” the housekeeper says. 

The nanny blesses the baby with the sign of the cross.

The women hear Anna scream and Howard runs inside and toward her bedroom. 

Howard rushes into the bedroom. 

“Where is Daniel?” flies out of Anna’s mouth as she sits up in bed.

“You’re ok, Anna,” Howard tries to soothe her. “Everything’s going to be ok.” 

“Where’s Daniel?” Anna asks again. 

“Anna…” Howard starts, unprepared to deal with this again. Suffering random memory loss, she truly doesn’t remember what happened. 

“I want to see him right now,” Anna continues. 

“Anna, Daniel’s in heaven,” Howard attempts. “We are going to give him a proper goodbye very soon, okay? And we’re going to keep praying for him until then.” 

“No he’s not,” Anna tells him. “He’s not in heaven. No, he’s not!” 

Anna grabs the bottle of methadone at her bedside and pours some into a baby bottle. She sucks on it. 

“Why did he die?” Anna asks Howard. “How?”

He watches her suck on the methadone. 

“We don’t know yet,” Howard says. 

Anna drifts off to her opioid-induced sleep and we enter her dream space. It’s a vision of the afterlife, purgatory, engulfed in white-blue flames.

Anna’s there, except we see her as young Vickie Lynn, the chubby little girl from our opening sequence with her mom’s vibrator. She screams with all her might, “Daniel?!” and hears her own voice echo.

She shudders in pain like Harry Potter when Voldemort experiences a moment of strength. The tremendousness of this pain brings the little girl to her knees.

“Daniel?!” she screams, assaulted again by her own echo.

He’s lost and she’s looking for him. 

Anna and Howard eat breakfast outside the next day, before sunrise once again. (It’s easy to be awake for sunrise when you sleep all day.) Countless flies land on their food as they ignore their plates. Buzzz.

“He needs me Howard,” Anna says. “He’s lost.” 

“He’s at peace, Anna,” Howard says. 

“No, he goddamn isn’t,” Anna insists. 

They sip their Diet Cokes. 

“I just wish we could have the funeral already,” Anna says. 

“Yeah, tell that to my stupid fucking family,” Anna says. “Why should Daniel be in Texas?” 

“Larry won’t stop threatening,” Howard says. “You think he’d cool off with Daniel gone, but he wants to meet her. He says he’ll get on a flight tomorrow. He could even crash the funeral. Whenever or wherever it ends up happening.” 

“Well, who the fuck knows when that is?” Anna asks. 

“He’s gonna make us go to paternity court if we keep ignoring him,” Howard says. “He could extradite you and Dannielynn back to the states for that any day.” 

“Well, get ahead of it then Howard,” Anna reprimands him. “Tell another fucking story.” 

“Like, what?” Howard asks. 

“I don’t know, everyone thinks I’m such a fucking cheater and whore,” Anna says. “Don’t they? Tell them I fucked some other guy and he’s Dannielynn’s father.” 

“Alexander?” Howard asks. “Or Tony?” 

Anna shakes her head no and stares him down, urging him to say the right answer. 

“C’mon Howard,” Anna says. “Be real.” 

“But we’ve never even….” Howard starts. 

“We’ve been together all along,” Anna says. She’s pitching him the idea. “Our secret romance. We could even get married.” 

Howard sighs loudly, overwhelmed. This is exactly what he wanted all along, but nothing like how he wanted it. Anna locks eyes with him. 

“We already lost Daniel,” Anna reminds him. “We can’t lose Dannielynn too. She’s all we have left.” 

With that, Anna gets on all fours and crawls back into her room and into bed. Howard follows along, lighter, burnt spoon and opiates in hand, and injects melted drugs into her ass cheek. 

Days later, Anna and Howard exchanging vows in an unofficial commitment ceremony in the middle of the Caribbean sea.

Afterward, they pose in the ocean, fully clothed but laying down in the water, like they’re on the cover of a romance novel you buy in line at the supermarket. 

Larry watches Anna on TV once again. She smiles wide next to Howard on Larry King Live as they discuss their wedding, new baby and years of being secret soulmates. Larry shoots back a shot of Fireball and orders another. 

At home after their live broadcast, Anna washes off her makeup. Thick, bronze streaks stain her white towels and white floors. She waves goodnight to Howard from down the hallway and crawls into her bed alone. There’s no consummating this marriage. She guzzles a little methadone from the bottle, rolls over, and cuddles her life size, photorealistic cutout of Daniel. 

At Daniel’s funeral in the Bahamas on October 19, 2006, we see another version of this cutout of Daniel. It welcomes guests as they arrive at the service. The decor is unusual for a funeral. It looks more like a children's birthday party. Full-size cutouts of Daniel’s favorite cartoon characters and superheroes flank the entrance of the church. 

Anna pulls up with Howard in a chauffeured SUV. He helps her out and she shuffles into the building at a snail’s pace. Her slow steps afford us no time to bypass or speed over the heartbreaking, eccentric horror of the gathering. 

The nanny carries Dannielynn in behind them. Howard pauses at the front pew to usher Anna into her seat but she ignores him and proceeds full-speed toward Daniel’s casket. Anna hurls her body weight against it. 

“Open it up! Open it up!” Anna screams. “Open it up!!! Let him out!” 

She throws herself against the casket again in real hopes of knocking it over and freeing him. 

“Open it up! I want to get in there with him!,” Anna screeches. 

Mid-screech, a member of her entourage approaches with his syringe drawn and injects a sedative into her arm. She collapses into his arms and he drags her back into the limo. Quiet. 

Now it’s Christmastime in the Bahamas. A couple of months after the funeral. Anna lays nude on a massage table in the middle of her living room, surrounded by Christmas decorations. 

“Marilyn used to say, ‘The nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream.’ But I don’t feel like that anymore. Not with Daniel lost,” Anna tells Howard, coherent but slurring. 

“He’s not lost, Anna. We’re just lost without him,” Howard says. 

She glares at him. 

“But I know you know him best,” he adds. “I booked our flights to LA.” 

Anna whines and kicks her feet on the table in protest.

“Take it up with your friend Larry. And the LA Superior Court,” Howard says. 

“I hate that place,” Anna says. “I’m never going back.” 

“What are we going to say when the paternity results come back and he wants partial custody and all the rest?” Howard asks. 

A nurse comes in and injects Anna’s ass with a huge needle full of human growth hormone. We see an infected, bulbous pus near the injection site. 

“Thanks for keeping me skinny,” Anna jokes with the nurse. Howard rolls his eyes. 

“Anna, there’s another legal thing we have to talk about,” Howard says. 

“My fucking settlement?” Anna asks. “Or is that gonna take another decade, Howard?” 

“There’s a class action against Trimspa, well you and Trimspa,” Howard says. “They’re coming for your deal. They don’t want you to make the claim that taking Trimspa causes people to lose substantial amounts of weight.” 

“But that’s not fair,” Anna says, willfully naive. “Look at me. It works.” 

Anna grimaces as the nurse administers yet another shot, this time in her other butt cheek. 

“I don’t wanna spend my whole life in court,” Anna tells Howard. 

“Not your whole life,” Howard says. “Just the rest of this year.” 

A couple months later -- February 2007 -- Anna, Howard, and members of her security and medical teams arrive at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The outdoor reception area looks the same as it did when she filmed her Trimspa commercial there, the one advertising the makeover contest. A bellhop loads up their stuff. Anna holds Dannielynn. Howard smokes. Neither of them look very good. 

Up in her hotel room, Howard hands Anna another suitcase.

“They brought everything,” Howard says, relieved. 

Anna unzips the suitcase and sees it filled with methadone, a dozen boxes of liquid methadone and another couple dozen boxes of tablets. They’re all labeled with patient names, but none of them read Anna Nicole or Vickie Lynn Smith. We see they’re all prescribed by Dr. Eroshevich and Dr. Kapoor, both of whom are on the trip with her. This suitcase is why they were invited.

Anna unceremoniously rips into a box of the tablets, pops a couple out and swigs them back with liquid methadone from her favorite baby bottle. 

“When are we going to look at the boat?” Anna asks. 

“Tomorrow,” Howard says. “Today we can catch up with everybody at lunch, then try to relax a little. Have some fun.” 

With all that in mind, Anna pops another pill. 

Later that afternoon, Anna and Howard join friends from South Florida and Los Angeles for lunch on a shaded outdoor patio. One of these friends is her psychiatrist, Dr. Kapoor. At least, he’s one of her psychiatrists… and the only one she made out with at gay pride. But not the only one of her psychiatrists she’s made out with…

Anna hears what all of her friends are saying but she can’t find many words herself. She sips Diet Coke from a straw and chews ice, but doesn’t eat. As waiters clear the plates, Howard says he’s off to work and the other friends discuss heading to the pool for swimming and drinks. Anna stares off into the pool complex – bursting with palm trees, turquoise waters and blindingly bright light. Not to mention the squeals and hums of happy couples and happy families. 

“I’m going to rest,” Anna tells, deflecting from the group as they head toward the pool. They blow her kisses. 

Anna detours into the indoor hotel bar where it’s dark and air-conditioned. Anna grabs a booth in the corner and takes a deep breath of the vodka, Parliaments and Axe Body spray scent in their air. A server approaches and returns shortly after with her cocktail. Anna downs it and orders another as the front woman for the hotel’s rock cover band resumes her late afternoon set. The singer re-introduces herself, her guitarist and her drummer to the room and starts singing “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns N Roses. 

Anna gulps her drink and soaks in each song lyric with wide eyes and an open heart. The music hits her so deeply. She feels it like never before. She cries, but with a smile on her face. It’s the first time we see her rejoicing in Daniel’s memory since his death, all by herself, drunk in this bar. She regards this singer like she’s Axl Rose himself, but better! 

The waitress brings another drink and Anna sips it. She applauses loudly as the band finishes that song and awaits what they’ll play next. Drunk and high and out by herself for the first time in God knows when, Anna feels like she may actually be up for having a good time tonight. Then the band starts playing “Knockin on Heaven’s Door.” 

“Mama take this badge from me, I can't use it anymore,” the singer croons. 

Anna doesn’t quite register what song this is yet, listening patiently and waiting for an opportunity to dance, for them to kick it up a notch! 

“It's getting dark too dark to see, feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door,” the singer belts. “Knock, knock, knockin on heaven’s door.” 

Anna’s good mood disappears as quickly as it came.

“Oh fuck me,” Anna says to herself. 

“Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door,” the rock and roller sings. 

Anna stands up to leave but struggles to find her balance. Obviously out of it, Anna slowly bobs toward the exit and right past the band. 

“I thought we were having a fucking good time,” Anna spits at the singer, loud so she hears. “Fucking downer.” 

A stranger passes her a shot on her way out and she downs it and smiles. Another fan asks for a pic and Anna poses, discombobulated but still aware of her best angles. 

She may look high and haggard and heartbroken, but she’s still gorgeous.

Struggling through the lobby and up the elevator, Anna finally finds her key in her pocket and gets into her hotel room, #607. She’s far away from the bar now, but “Knockin On Heaven’s Door” keeps playing in her mind.

She heads right to the fridge where she swigs from a bottle of methadone. Then a long swig of chocolate Slim Fast. She reaches her hand into a plastic sack of pills and grabs a huge handful like they’re jelly beans. She swallows them all at once with a big swig of Slim Fast, then puts everything back in the mini-fridge. 

As she pees, she fills one of her baby bottles with chloral hydrate, sleeping medication, and starts sucking on it. She crawls into bed and turns on the TV. “Happy Days” is on. She dozes off watching her favorite show. We see her breathing deeply as she sleeps for a moment or two, but then she begins to struggle and heave. Her mouth falls open and it’s clear. She’s lost consciousness.  

Anna’s bodyguard Moe finds her like this in bed.He tries to give her mouth-to-mouth, but it’s been hours. She’s gone. He shouts her name over and over. “Anna! Anna,” he wails.

Paramedics arrive. They try to revive her but they don’t succeed. Soon, they pronounce Anna dead and wheel her away. 

A detective takes photos of everything in the room – each bottle of medication, the suitcase filled with pharmaceuticals, the baby bottle at her bedside, the stains on the sheets, the vomit in the sink. 

Another detective removes items from her purse and documents them. Lipstick. Pills. Lipgloss. Pills. A single band of fake eyelashes. A tiny bottle of Birthday Cake flavored vodka. Rosary beads. A Virgin Mary prayer card. And a 4x6 photo of the happiest time in her life – Christmas in Texas with Daniel and J.Howard, each one of them smiling even bigger than the other.  

Barricaded away from the hotel room, Howard sobs in devastation. He heads back to his hotel room to call the press with a statement. 

“Anna did not survive the loss of her son Daniel, who was the love of her life,” Howard tells the media over the phone. He cries and cries. Anna’s three dogs come and lick his tears. 

In the break room at work in Palm Desert, Kimmy hears the news of Anna’s death on the radio. Surrounded by co-workers gossiping about Anna as they learn of her death, Kimmy says nothing. She beelines to the bathroom across the office. Once safe in a stall, she screams in hysteric agony. 

We see Larry as he turns on the news to learn more. 

“Now, the court battle over her burial begins in Broward County, Florida,” the news anchor concludes. That station goes to commercial and Larry flips it to another channel. 

“People don’t know her as Vickie Lynn like we do. Her family knows her because they were raised with her. Other people don’t, they just know her as Anna Nicole. Vickie Lynn was a great kid and now she’s gone,” Anna’s estranged mom Virgie says in another news interview. “She should be buried at home in Texas, where she was born.” 

Imagine the montage of fans mourning in the movie Selena. This is like that, but more sordid. More sleazy. Anna might be dead, but that doesn’t the mean the media is treating her like an angel.

Fans around the world are devastated. They react to the news online and in person. Everyone is talking about her. Some of the people who hated her before claim to love her now. Others think she got exactly what she deserved. She’s the focus of every news broadcast, but people are still scouring the internet for more details.

One person is very affected by this news. She’s a pop star who has just returned to the San Fernando Valley after a mandated stint in a Caribbean rehab. Britney Spears was supposed to pick up her car and go straight to her mother’s house when she got to LA. She stops at a gas station instead and picks up the essentials: a carton of cigarettes and a case of sugar-free Red Bull.

She spends the next 48-hours driving around the Valley, chain smoking, chugging the energy drinks, and listening to radio news coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death.

Every time one talk radio station stops talking about Anna, Britney turns the channel to find one that is.

“I’m gonna be next,” Britney says into her car mirror. 

Britney pulls her car over on Ventura Boulevard and walks into a hair salon. She points to the TV and asks the owner to turn on the news. The hairdresser pauses the rom-com that was playing as background noise and flips on the news. She turns the volume up.

Britney asks the hairdresser to shave her head. When she refuses, fearful this might be something Britney regrets right away, Britney grabs a pair of clippers herself and shaves her own head bald. The hairdresser looks on in awe.

A sad, sultry cover of  “Outrageous” by Britney Spears plays.

Outside the Broward County Circuit Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Howard K. Stern, Anna’s mother Virgie Arthur, and Larry Birkhead, walk arm-in-arm into the court. 

Later in court, these three watch as an old Entertainment Tonight interview with Anna plays on the roll-a-way TV. 

“What has she done to me? You wanna hear my child life? You wanna hear all the things she did to me?  That’s my mother. That’s my mom. What do you want to say to her? I want to say to her, how dare you .... b**tch. How dare you,” Anna says into the camera. 

The judge, bald with a Florida tan, addresses the crowded courtroom. 

“The medical examiner tells me the body is deteriorating much more quickly than what can usually be expected so there is only one issue before this court to decide: who is entitled in custody of the remains of Anna Nicole Smith,” the judge says. “Richard Milstein, esq. as the as the guardian for Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern is awarded custody of the remains of Anna Nicole Smith.” 

Much to the surprise of everyone in the room, the judge begins crying. 

“I want her buried with her son in the Bahamas.  There’s no shouting, this is not a happy moment,” the judge says. “I want her buried with her son in the Bahamas, I want them to be together.” 

Howard breathes a huge sigh of relief, but other people in the courtroom are more cynical. They look at each other with expressions that ask, “Is he really crying right now?” 

Outside of the court, NBC Legal Correspondent Dan Abrams broadcasts live, “I believe those tears were real.  But it was almost as if it was the end of a show.  And the judge had just seen the final chapter. And he became so emotional that he had to talk about it. It’s not normal.  And that’s not the way most judges behave. It’s human but bizarrely human.” 

Just then, the judge walks out and begins his own interview with a rival broadcaster. 

“You know, she had to live all her years under this exposure. I got a week and half and it’s ready to flatten me down,” he says, eyes aglow with all this attention. 

Anna’s funeral is the pinkest Mount Horeb Baptist Church has ever seen, probably the pinkest funeral in the world. Pink roses fill the space, with garlands of pink plumerias and rows of pink orchids everywhere too. The event is just as beautiful as Anna would have wanted it, and filled with as many pro lights and cameras as a movie set. 

The event’s florist, Jaime, Anna’s old friend from her days clubbing in Boy’s Town, arranges bowls full of floating pink peonies. 

His assistant joins him with more flowers. 

“So were peonies her fave?” the assistant asks. 

“Anything pink,” Jaime says. “Except carnations. She hates carnations.” 

“It’s all a bit over the top, isn’t it?” the assistant asks as someone erects a life-size cutout of her.  

“Of course it’s over the top, it’s Anna Nicole. She’s wearing a tiara and custom beaded gown in there,” Jaime says. 

Jaime pets the casket. 

“Larger than life,” he whispers to her, missing his friend.   

They clear their scraps as guests begin to arrive. Fans yell their respects from outside the church doors. Cameras roll everywhere.

Virgie Arthur arrives in a white limo. She steps out of the limo, pink carnations in hand. 

Howard and Anna’s bodyguards join a couple of her other friends as pallbearers. Her casket lowers into the ground, right next to Daniel’s headstone. They’re at rest together. The last of the dirt gets shoveled on top of her.

Dirt becomes glitter and glitter becomes angel dust and we cut to a girly, pink bedroom.

FOUR YEARS LATER.

We’re in the bedroom of Anna’s dreams, but she’s nowhere to be found.

Dannielynn Birkhead is almost five. She sits on her bed in a turquoise and white zebra-striped dress with a pink rhinestone collar. She looks like a miniature Anna, with a perfect doll face. A more ethereal-than-ever version of Anna Nicole sits on the bed next to Dannielynn. She strokes Dannielynn’s long, golden hair as the little girl smooths her tights and puts her shoes on, just old enough to do so herself. Dannielynn and Anna smile in total synchronicity, cheek to cheek. We hear Larry yell for Dannielynn off screen.

“Let’s go, angel face!” Larry calls. “It’s Derby time!” 

Daniel, another angel, appears on the other side of Dannielynn and we witness this moment between the three of them. As Dannielynn reaches for her pink hat, a small replica of the same one Anna wore to the Derby, and plops it on her head, Anna and Daniel disappear. Two butterflies take their place. They follow Dannielynn out into the lush Kentucky spring air and circle around her head like a halo. 

Over the pastoral, spring scene, full of green Kentucky grass and blooming tulips, we finish our story.

- Larry Birkhead proved to be Dannielynn's biological father. They live happily in Kentucky. Where they attend the Derby together every year.

- After nearly 15 years of arguing Marshall vs Marshall, Anna Nicole’s estate didn’t walk away with a single penny from her late husband. Neither did Howard. K Stern. He works today as a public defender in Los Angeles. 

- When Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007, she became the most talked about woman on the planet. The only topic American news covered more than her that year was the Iraq War. 

- Anna Nicole’s life and death saturated the mass media. Even if it killed her, would she have had it any other way? 

OUTRAGEOUS: THE ANNA NICOLE SMITH STORY