Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead's daughter Dannielynn is 17 years old — and is her mother's mini-me.
"Happy 17th Birthday Dannielynn! I am so proud of you in each and every way. Wishing you the best day ever!" Larry wrote in a touching Instagram video that showed his daughter's growth over time.
"You are funny, crazy smart, pretty and just about everything I could ever imagine," he wrote. "Your Mom would be so proud of you, I sure am. Happy Birthday! Love Dad."
Larry added, "By the way, when you asked me if you could live in my basement forever. I said yes, but I didn’t have the heart to tell you there aren’t any basements in Florida."
Smith, a Playboy model and actress, died in February 2007 at age 39 from an accidental overdose when Dannielynn was 5-months old.
Larry Birkhead raised his daughter as a single father after a DNA test proved that he, and not Smith's partner Howard K. Stern, was Dannielynn's biological father. Stern was an attorney in Smith's legal battle over the estate of her late husband J. Howard Marshall, a billionaire who was 26 years her senior.
As she grew up, Larry shared photos of Dannielynn, who is a mirror image of her model mom.
The father and daughter spend much time together: in addition to celebrating the Kentucky Derby on an annual basis, they recently attended a Duran Duran concert to honor Father's Day.
And like any dad raising teens, Larry is the occasional butt of Dannielynn's jokes.
"Nothing like trying to have a serious conversation with your kid and instead you get trolled with the worst pics of you have ever taken on their cell phone," he wrote on Instagram in June, captioning a photo of Dannielynn holding up what he felt was a less-than-flattering selfie. "I can’t be the only parent with this issue!"
Here’s what else to know about this famous brood.
Who was Anna Nicole Smith?
Smith was born Vickie Lynn Hogan and grew up in Texas. In 1985, at age 17, she married a man named Billy Smith and the two welcomed a son named Daniel in 1986, although they eventually divorced.
Later, while working as an exotic dancer, Smith met oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II and they married in 1994 when she was 26 and he was 89.
Smith was a successful model for clothing brand GUESS and Playboy, appearing on its 1992 cover and winning the 1993 “Playmate of the Year” title. Smith later acted in the “Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult” film and in the television show “Ally McBeal.”
In 1995, Marshall died at age 90, his death setting off a legal battle between Smith and his family, as Smith tried to claim some of his fortune. According to NBC News, Smith claimed she was promised more than $300 million from her late husband.
As the case continued, Smith starred in an E! reality show called "The Anna Nicole Show" from 2002 to 2004. Smith's erratic behavior and slurred speech, both on and off the show, fed speculation that she was using drugs.
In 2006, Smith announced she was pregnant and gave birth to daughter Dannielynn in a Bahamas hospital. Days later, Smith's son Daniel died while visiting his mom at the hospital, reported the Associated Press. According to the autopsy, reported the AP, Daniel died from taking methadone and antidepressants.
Smith died in February 2007 in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Florida. According to an autopsy report, the 39-year-old died of an accidental overdose that involved at least 9 prescription drugs, one of them reportedly prescribed following the death of Daniel.
According to the Associated Press, days before her death, Smith was ill but refused to go to the hospital, per the medical examiner, instead holing up in her hotel room. As the AP reported, the medical examiner ruled that Smith's death was probably not homicide.
Two men claimed they had fathered Dannielynn: Smith's attorney and romantic partner Howard K. Stern (whose name was on the girl's birth certificate) and Larry Birkhead.
Birkhead, however, insisted that he was the father. A DNA test the following year, proved that he was. Stern agreed to support the decision and Birkhead.
“I’m obviously very disappointed, but my feelings for Dannielynn have not changed,” Stern said, according to the Associated Press. “I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure he gets sole custody.”
In 2014, a federal judge rejected Smith estate's bid to attain $44 million from her late husband's estate, claiming Marshall was mentally sound when he established his will.
Netflix aired a documentary about Anna Nicole Smith titled "You Don’t Know Me" in May 2023.
Who is Dannielynn Birkhead?
Smith's daughter Dannielynn grew up to resemble her late mom.
Birkhead spoke to the media interest in his daughter during their annual tradition of celebrating the Kentucky Derby.
"It’s our 'one day a year' outing that we do publicly,” Larry told the Courier Journal in 2022. “And I think you guys probably can take pictures and watch her grow from just this event ... there's a lot of people that are interested in things because of her mother and I don't let her fall into that. I just say, 'Hey, let's do one thing a year (and) let people see how you are."
Birkhead once shared with People that he is nearing the inevitable day that Dannielynn leaves the nest.
"It’s one of those things where she’s just now dipping her toe into getting stuff, and people are mailing her things," he told the outlet of the college process. "And every time I get something in the mail for college, I don’t know if I really want to give her this because she might take them up on this offer and go somewhere to college."
“It’s one of those things that all parents go through," he added. "They don’t want their kids to go off, but they know they have to.”
Birkhead also told People that Dannielynn is "starting to show an interest in forensics.”
“She takes a forensic class in high school, and she enjoys it, so she’s starting to talk about that, which is great because I like to watch Dateline," he said. "So we’re on the same page with that.”
People reported that Dannielynn inherited many of her mother's clothing, although she's selective about certain items.
"'There are also some things she says, 'Dad, thanks, but no thanks. That’s not my style,'" he told People. According to Birkhead some of Smith's "more revealing and lower-cut" clothing will be saved to wear when the teen is older.
Who is Larry Birkhead?
Larry Birkhead, 50, has led a quiet life since the death of Smith.
According to Reuters, Birkhead, a photographer, met Smith at the Kentucky Derby.
“Tonight is the 20th anniversary where I met Dannielynn’s Mom at the same event,” Birkhead wrote on Instagram while sharing photos of the 2023 Kentucky Derby gala, where Dannielynn wore a black-and-white top with prints of her mother’s GUESS campaign.
In 2010, Birkhead told Reuters that he was selling her memorabilia so her fans could enjoy them.
“When Anna first passed away, I had to take every single thing out of the house and put it away in storage,” he told the outlet. “It was too hard emotionally for me to be around those memories.”
He added, "I don’t know that my daughter is going to need every single thing that was her mothers. Maybe it’s right to share some of Anna’s legacy with her fans."
Birkhead runs the Instagram account larryanddannielynn where he posts photos of himself and his daughter.