Anna Nicole Smith was laid to rest on Friday in a mahogany coffin draped in a rhinestone-studded, pink feathered blanket. Hundreds gathered at a Bahamian church to say goodbye to the former Playboy Playmate.
In signature Anna Nicole style, the coffin was received on a red carpet before being wheeled inside Mount Horeb Baptist Church in Nassau, Bahamas.
According to the Associated Press, Richard Milstein, the court-appointed advocate for Smith’s 5-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, called for “respect and solemnity” for all those congregating outside.
“Today we share our grief with all of you. … Today we come to you to carry out the final, most sacred, solemn act provided to any individual,” he said.
Shortly before the funeral commenced, Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur, reportedly tried to halt her daughter’s burial and take her remains to Texas. A Bahamian justice denied the motion and the funeral continued as planned.
Arthur arrived at the church in a white stretch limousine and waved to the cheering crowd outside (Entertainment Tonight reports that some people in the crowd booed).
Not everyone in the crowd was there to support the former Guess model.
“She’s got a presidential kind of media frenzy going on,” a 59-year-old nurse from Columbus, Ohio, told the Associated Press. “I’m just incredulous at all the fuss. She was not a world figure. She was not a queen. She was not a president. She was not anything … It’s just way over the top.”
Smith’s companion, Howard K. Stern, and her former boyfriend Larry Birkhead were both present at the service, but Dannielynn (of whom both Stern and Birkhead claim to be the father) was not in attendance.
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash also came to pay his respects. Country singer Joe Nichols was expected to sing two songs at Stern’s request: Nichols’ ballad “I’ll Wait for You” as well as the Dolly Parton tune “On the Wings of a Dove.”
After the service, Smith’s coffin was moved to Lake View cemetery, where she will be buried in a tiara and custom-made, beaded gown next to her son, Daniel, who died of drug-related causes last September.
Dr. Joshua Perper, the Broward medical examiner, is scheduled to announce Smith’s cause of death next week.
“This was a complex case,” Perper said. “It was an unusual case from a medical point of view.”
Smith was found unconscious on the floor of her Florida hotel room on Feb. 8 and later died at a nearby hospital at the age of 39.
(via US Weekly)
