I'm not one to spread rumors before the facts are in, but all the wires and news channels are reporting Anna Nicole Smith dead at age 39.

Even without knowing the details of today's tragedy, I think it's still safe to say her life story has to be one of the weirdest and saddest examples of Hollywood Babylon ever...

Read that as well, confirmed now, though.

Collapsed, taken to the hospital, pronounced dead.

Like you said, weirdest and saddest example in a loooong time.

I was a bit shocked when I heard this. It will be interesting to see what the cause was.

I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but the circumstances do point to a drugs related death.

All my fellow current and former news weasals are on the case. The locals and family are currently buttoned up pretty tight on details. Broward County ME has the call on this one. Too bad it isn't Miami-Dade ME, I sometimes help train their photogs and would try and score some dirt.

While this is a sad story, the media is covering it like she was Meryl Streep or something. This is going to be the lead story on Entertainment Tonight, Insider, and Inside Edition for a couple of weeks. 20/20 is doing 2 hours on it tonight----I say give it a rest, for cryin' out loud. Again, it's unfortunate, and she had some tragedy in her life, but this is getting way more coverage than it needs.

I say give it a rest, for cryin' out loud. Again, it's unfortunate, and she had some tragedy in her life, but this is getting way more coverage than it needs.

Well, all due respect to Meryl Streep, she is a great actress (and good person), but little else. I can't really recall her doing anything controversial or gossipy during her career. And she certainly hasn't galvanized public opinion into an emotional love-hate realtionship the way Smith did.

And that is what this is all about. You can easily make the case that no female celebrity in the last forty years has come closer to the Marilyn Monroe-esque life of celebrated beauty, career success, and sad tragedy than Smith.

I agree the media has a very unhealthy obsession with these types of things, but IMO it's easy to understand and at this point should be expected.

Many were captivated by her in life. Her early death will only add to that facination...

Well, all due respect to Meryl Streep, she is a great actress (and good person), but little else. I can't really recall her doing anything controversial or gossipy during her career. And she certainly hasn't galvanized public opinion into an emotional love-hate realtionship the way Smith did.

And that is what this is all about. You can easily make the case that no female celebrity in the last forty years has come closer to the Marilyn Monroe-esque life of celebrated beauty, career success, and sad tragedy than Smith.

I agree the media has a very unhealthy obsession with these types of things, but IMO it's easy to understand and at this point should be expected.

Many were captivated by her in life. Her early death will only add to that facination...

I don't disagree Steve---I was merely using Meryl Streep as a comparison. It's unfortunate that Smith died, but like you say, the media (Hollywood more than anyone) has a far greater obsession with this kind of thing. I expect every supermarket tabloid in the coming months will have wild stories. ANS was one of those people that was a magnet for tabloid journalists. The sad part is, nobody really tries to understand or reach out to the ANS's of the world, they merely exploit them for their own purposes. I neither loved nor hated her. I really didn't pay much attention either way. Unfortunately the wave of reality programming on television doesn't help. I don't know what the fixation is with the 'behind the scenes' shows about Hulk Hogan, the Osbournes, etc. I guess people like seeing train wrecks. I suppose we should prepare for the onslaught of 'tell-all' books and made for tv movies about ANS. Now we're going to be bombarded with 'who's the daddy?' of her child. What's really sad is, her death seems to be more meaningful than her life. I hope that doesn't come across as callous....just my take on it.

I agree with you completely. In fact, I could have posted the exact same "mini-rant" as you, because I feel that way too. I guess I've just come to expect this behavior from the media, and so tune it out as much as possible...

I actually liked Smith, felt she was a good person at heart, often misunderstood, and chalked up (blamed?) her weight gain and outrageous behavior to the unfair treatment and intense scrutiny that the press placed her under.

Sadly, at some point it became a perpetual machine. IMO, the stress of her celebrity and continually being media fodder triggered additional self-abuse and wild antics. This in turn attracted more tabloid coverage like a magnet...

Steve mentioned the Marilyn Monroe-comparison already.

But I wonder how long until the media picks it up and starts running stories comparing their lives...

Sad, that our culture keeps creating the same icons over and over again...

But I wonder how long until the media picks it up and starts running stories comparing their lives...

...it's only natural that the comparisons will be made.

A great deal of this will be because of the art imitates life aspect that ANS embraced.

At various times throughout her career, she deliberately made herself look and act like Monroe to capitalize on the similarities.

Still, in the end, Monroe was tremendously more talented than Smith (perhaps one of the great underrated actresses of our time), was much more universally liked and admired than Smith, and had a sadness to her life that was for the most part slightly beneath the surface.

I think it was only after Monroe's tragic death (and the circumstances of it) that the average person came to realize how unhappy and messed up she had been...

ANS, on the other hand, showed dramatic public mood swings on a regular basis much of her career, and erratic behavior that clearly pointed to substance abuse. I think as many people loathed her as liked her or felt sorry for her.

I also think many more people could have predicted this type of ending for her...

I was a bit shocked when I heard this. It will be interesting to see what the cause was.

How can anyone be shocked when a KNOWN drug user dies? My first thought when I heard she died was "good", now maybe her baby has a chance without growing up in her mothers drug infested shadow, unlike her son who died from an overdose.
Tonight the news showed the last interview they did with her shortly before her death, and from it you can get a very good idea of what killed her...DRUGS and booze. They did the whole interview with her on the floor and the whole time she was out of it, occasionally giving completly off the wall answers to questions that had nothing to do with the question. Then following the interview she had to have help to get off the floor from her nurse and the reporter.
She was one hell of a role model.....especially for her son......

JS