Anna Nicole Smith: The biggest revelations from Netflix's You Don't Know Me documentary

After looking deeper into pop culture icons like Pamela Anderson and Britney Spears, Netflix is now turning its attention to Anna Nicole Smith in a new documentary film, You Don’t Know Me.

The streaming platform is exploring the late Playboy model’s family life and rise to fame, as well as what she was really like behind the camera when she shed her celebrity persona and was simply Vickie Lynn Hogan (which was her real name).

Smith tragically died from an accidental drug overdose in 2007, she was aged 39 at the time of her death.

Read more: The most shocking moments from Netflix's Pamela Anderson doc

The Netflix documentary charts several key moments from her life, including her legal battle over the estate of her second husband J. Howard Marshall, who died aged 90, one year into their marriage. It also examines her life with her son Daniel, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 2006 aged 20, as well as her daughter Dannielynn, who is now 16.

There were many revelations to be had in the documentary, with Smith’s close friends sharing insight into what she was like in real life.

Her early relationships

Smith’s friend, Melissa “Missy” Byrum, appeared in the documentary and she shared insight into the model’s early life.

The two became friends when Smith left her hometown of Mexia and arrived in Los Angeles, where she began working in a strip club alongside Byrum.

Byrum explained that the two of them shared an intimate relationship for many years, and said that Smith had a very busy love life. It was during this period that she met the man that would be her second husband, Marshall.

Read more: Larry Birkhead shares insight into life with daughter Dannielynn (People, 5-min read)

Though Smith and Marshall were said to be close to one another and the billionaire proposed to her many times, Byrum said Smith refused them because she was determined to make a name for herself first, out of fear she’d be seen as a “gold digger” if she married him beforehand.

Smith and Marshall famously married in 1994, and his death at the age of 90 led to a lengthy legal battle over the billionaire's estate and whether Smith should receive anything from it.

Her meeting with her father

Smith reconnected with her father and brother, Donnie Hogan, after becoming a household name as a Playboy model. She hired a private investigator in order to find her estranged father to try and reunite with him, which she was able to do.

Her friend Byrum explained that Smith had an image of what her father would be like for years, and she was shattered after meeting him because he allegedly tried to sexually assault her at a Playboy party.

When asked about this in the documentary, Smith’s brother said that he felt their father was capable of doing such a thing but that he was with the two of them most of the time so he wasn’t sure if the event had happened. Though he did not dismiss the story entirely.

Watch the trailer for Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me

Anna Nicole Smith's relationship with Larry Birkhead

Larry Birkhead is the father of Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn, but the model did not want that to be public knowledge according to the documentary.

Read more: Anna Nicole Smith’s ‘secret’ girlfriend ‘married late model’ (The Independent, 3-min read)

In the film it was said Smith was keen to have a second child and chose Birkhead to be the man she shared the baby with, however she intended to raise the child on her own and say that her lawyer Howard K. Stern was the father.

It was said that Smith moved to the Bahamas before giving birth because whoever signed the birth certificate as the father would be seen as such in the country, regardless of whether they really were the child’s parent.

In the documentary, Smith’s friend Mitchell Olson also shared a conversation he had with Smith in which the model expressed her frustration with Birkhead, who was keen to share custody.

How the death of her son Daniel impacted Anna Nicole Smith

The documentary also examined Smith’s relationship with her son Daniel, and her former bodyguard Maurice "Big Moe" Brighthaupt spoke of how Daniel's death destroyed Smith.

According to Brighthaupt, Smith was inconsolable after her son’s death by an accidental overdose and blamed herself for it and she told Brighthaupt that she didn’t want to live anymore.

The bodyguard explained that he would show Smith her baby daughter, Dannielynn, to encourage her that the newborn was the reason the model should keep living.

Anna Nicole Smith lied about her mother abusing her

In the final part of the documentary, Byrum spoke about how Smith had presented her history of abuse as her own when speaking about her childhood.

A clip from an interview with Smith’s mother Virgie Arthur saw her explain that her daughter would depict her childhood as sad because it meant she would “make 50 times the amount of money” than if she talked about how good it was.

Smith’s brother Donald Hart said in the documentary that his sister’s allegations of abuse against their mother were not true, while Byrum added that Smith’s mother had come to their aid on several occasions when the model first moved out of her hometown.

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

For confidential emotional support contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org