You probably never expected to see a memorium to Anna Nicole Smith on this blog.
I used to regard her as a traitor to the cause of feminism. Someone who traded on her looks to marry for money, and not worth serious regard. Then I happened to read the decision in her bankrupcy case while preparing for a Pennsylvania Bar Institute seminar on Estate Planning for Second Marriages, and came away with a new found regard for her.
Read the decision. You can skip the first bunch of pages that deal with bankruptcy procedure (I never took that class in law school, never handled a bankruptcy, and probably never will), and go right to the statement of facts. The judge paints a pretty tragic portrait of this lady. Grew up poor. Daddy left and never supported her. Married young and had a child, whose daddy left and never supported his kid. Struggling to support herself, she took to dancing at a strip club, where she met J. Howard Marshall. He pursued her for years before she agreed to marry him. A pre-nup was drawn, but Marshall wouldn't sign any legal documents longer than two pages. Boy, I've had that client more than a few times. Anyway, you begin to see a pattern where a woman with little education (maybe even an undiagnosed learning disability), limited opportunity for a career, and saddled with supporting a child turns to an elegant form of prostitution - marriage - to support herself. We shouldn't condemn women in the sex trade. We should rail against a system that forces women to demean themselves in order to survive.
Every little girl - including me and my daughter - dreams of being famous. I'm struck by the coverage of her death by the news media. She is front page news. She may have become famous by being famous. I'm saddened that she achieved fame but never achieved happiness.
