A Sad Life Ends

A depressing day here at BaT. Anna Nicole Smith, the former Playboy centerfold, Guess? icon and all-around troubled soul, died today. (See the post below, as well.) She was only 39.

Anna Nicole Smith, the pneumatic blonde whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale -- Playboy centerfold, jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother -- died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.

She was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a hospital. Edwina Johnson, chief investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done on Friday.

Just five months ago, Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel, died suddenly in the Bahamas in what was believed to be a drug-related death.

Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger said a private nurse called 911 after finding Smith unresponsive in her sixth-floor room at the hotel, which is on an Indian reservation. He said Smith's bodyguard administered CPR, but she was declared dead at a hospital. Later Thursday, two sheriff's deputies carried out at least eight brown paper bags sealed with red evidence tape from Smith's hotel room.

She was just a tragic figure, much like Marilyn Monroe, the woman she modeled herself after. (Ms. Monroe died at 36.) Anyone who watched her horrific reality show on E! could only be in awe of her life ... and not in a good way.

The product of a broken home, a teen mother, a stripper, the bride of an invalid, dirty old man, Playboy centerfold, mainstream model, widow, substance abuser, a mother who lost her son, a woman with a sleazy lawyer boyfriend -- and now a quick death in an Indian casino.

She brought so much on herself, but you just couldn't help but feel pity for her. Sad, simply sad.

RIP, Anna Nicole. Here's hoping you get a better hand somewhere down the road.