Anna Nicole Smith - Who Were You?

Anna Nicole Smith More Icon Than Real

I first became aware of Anna Nicole Smith like many men through the image oriented men's magazine - Playboy. Anna was just another face, another body, another men's fantasy.

She once again topped the radar screen when the story broke that she had married "some ole rich guy for his money". The thought disgusted me, and still does but people do all kinds of things for money - and she gave the old man a thrill of a lifetime before he kicked the bucket. I never considered that to be a dishonest trade.

Next her show on VH1, or was it MTV I forget. It was totally senseless, and I only watched because it was so totally stupid. I felt sorry for her because she had gained so much weight, and had surrounded herself with so many people who really didn't care about her.

The one bright spot seemed to be her relationship with her son Daniel.

Then came TrimSpa. I was on Atkins at the time, and I had lost a lot of weight, and I noticed her promoting TrimSpa. Several times I wondered if I should try the stuff, and fortunately I decided not to.

Then came the Larry King interview, and I knew there was something wrong. She seemed stoned. Yes she looked good, but she was stoned - slurred.

She kept getting thinner, and thinner. In a way she looked hotter, and hotter, but she also looked closer, and closer to death. Something was not right.

And of course we all quickly discovered she had had a baby. We could only hope it would give her a new sense of reason, a new responsibility and would force her to grow.

And then out of nowhere David dies of an overdose.

The circumstances of David's death was incredibly tragic. Celebrating life, and destroyed by death all at the same time. How could someone so ill fit to handle life deal with this?

She was destroyed, but she tied the knot, and we hoped that she'd put herself together, and live for the sake of the baby. Perhaps she'd raise the baby better than she did David, and everyone would live happily ever after?

Except today Anna Nicole Smith died.

Probably drugs, and stress.

She caused much of her own demise, and she was a wacky woman, most would say not to be taken seriously - yet I mourn her.

Her life was tragic, and that's sad.

Even the most cynical among us will never be able to forget her. Just try, it can't be done.