5 biggest revelations from the Anna Nicole Smith Netflix documentary

Netflix's much-anticipated Anna Nicole Smith documentary: Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me unpacked the life of the late model through interviews with people who knew the "real" her.

Born Vickie Lynn Hogan, the star adopted the name "Nicky" during her time at the strip club, before becoming a household name as Anna Nicole Smith after landing a modelling gig with Guess.

"I want audiences to understand that Anna Nicole was a complex woman," director Ursula Macfarlane (Untouchable)said.

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"She was someone who above all else wanted to be a good mother and a free-spirited exuberant woman who wanted to live life on her own terms. But her story is also a cautionary tale about how the desire for the American dream can swallow you up and spit you out, blurring your self-image and make you lose sight of your authentic self."

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Here's what we learnt from Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me:

Her troubled childhood

Smith's friend, Missy, said the model described her mother, Virgie Mae Hogan, as a "kind of a tyrant" with claims she would tie her to the bed and "beat her mercilessly."

Her former assistant Nathan Collins went on to suggest Smith "didn't like to speak about her childhood," and instead would rather speak about how much she "hated" them.

"She would always tell me, she hated her mother," designer Pol' Atteu added. "The only thing I knew that Anna ever wanted to do was never to be like Virgie."

Despite claims, her younger brother Donald Hart suggested their mother was "a very sweet, loving person" and she and Smith "cared about each other" even if they didn't speak "behind the scenes."

In unheard footage from Smith's mother, she alleged that her daughter thought a harrowing story would benefit her career.

Smith hired a private investigator to track down her father, Donald Hogan. He was flown out to meet her aged 24 to celebrate becoming Playmate of the Year.

"She told me that her father had tried to have sex with her," an emotional Missy claimed. "I was really sad to see that. She was so so disappointed."

She got married at 17 and had a baby out of loneliness

"I thought I was in love," Smith said about Billy Wayne Smith who she met at Jimmy's Fried Chicken before tying the knot.

She went on to suggest "he was so, so jealous of me," and alleged she wasn't able to leave the house, which made her think: "If I have a baby, I'll never feel lonely again."

The pair welcomed their son Daniel in January 1986, and Smith left six months later.

Smith knew she was going to be a "famous model"

Smith repeatedly told her friend Missy, who she met during her time at the strip club, that she was going to be a model. However, Smith believed her chest was holding her back.

The then-dancer then went under the knife after making it her "mission to get a boob job", with Missy saying that's where "she started on her pain pills."

"Valium, Xanax, Lortabs, Vicodin and Klonopin," Missy claimed. "From that time on, she was taking them. There was nothing she could do to stop it."

Despite her struggles, Missy described Smith as "fun". "She had a big heart, and she was kind. She really was kind," she added.

Her marriage with billionaire J Howard Marshall

Smith met one of her billionaire clients J Howard Marshall while dancing. The then 86-year-old bought a 26-year-old Smith a house and a car, as she quit the strip club.

She went on to land a gig with Playboy before adopting the name Anna Nicole Smith while modelling for Guess.

They eventually did marry in 1994 and Marshall wanted to adopt her son to have an heir so "there would be nothing that his family could do to freeze them out."

Smith's attorney Kelly Moore was "impressed" by the pair's love for one another and how "well-suited" they were. Moore said she does not want to give the impression it was a "gold digger" relationship.

Moore described Smith as "such a young, voluptuous woman and he was a little old gnome of a man. But they were both kind of extraordinary people that other people were always trying to take pieces of."

She said they were "protection for each other."

Smith's final months

Her son Daniel died in September 2006 from an accidental drug overdose, days after giving birth to daughter Dannielynn Birkhead.

The news devastated Smith, with designer Pol' Atteu recalling: "She didn't want to live. Everything that she did was for Daniel. Every single conversation was what she did wrong, blamed herself the whole time. She said, 'I just want to die. I don't deserve to be here. It should've been me.'"

Smith died aged 39 on 8 February 2007, with an autopsy revealing it was down to combined drug intoxication including the sleep aid chloral hydrate.

The star was laid to rest in the Bahamas next to her son in the Bahamas.

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me is available to stream on Netflix now.

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