Anna Nicole Smith wasn’t born into privilege. Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in a small Texas town, she grew up in poverty, married at 17, had a son at 18, worked at Walmart, then at a fried chicken restaurant. When that wasn’t enough to support her baby, she became a dancer at a strip club in Houston.
That’s where she met J. Howard Marshall II in 1991. He was a regular customer. She was 23; he was 86. He was an oil tycoon worth over a billion dollars. She was struggling to survive.
What developed between them wasn’t simple. By all accounts—from people who knew them both—Marshall genuinely loved Anna. He showered her with gifts, yes, but also with attention, affection, and devotion. He proposed multiple times before she finally said yes in 1994.
“She made me feel young again,” he told reporters. Friends said they’d never seen him happier.
