 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
‘It’s very expensive to be me’©New York Times © St. Petersburg Times, published February 2, 2001 HOUSTON -- The spectacle of rich people fighting over money ranks just below football as a favorite spectator sport in Texas, so it seemed fitting that Anna Nicole Smith took the stand in the lawsuit over her billionaire husband's estate on the day after the Super Bowl.
"This is better than a soap opera," said Lillian Seifried, 58, who attended the trial on Wednesday rather than baby-sit so that she could catch a glimpse of Smith. "She's very entertaining. She looks fun to be with. Plus, I think she has a very pretty face." The proceedings under way in Harris County Probate Court began in late September and at this pace threaten to outlast the 14-month marriage of Smith and J. Howard Marshall II. Their romance began in 1991 and is now etched in the tabloid canon. He was the oilman in a wheelchair, a lonely octogenarian whose previous companion, the stripper Lady Walker, died on the operating table of a congenital brain defect during cosmetic surgery. Then one afternoon Marshall's driver delivered him to Gigi's Cabaret, and, as they say, his life was changed forever. Dancing onstage was Smith, formerly Vickie Lynn Hogan, a single mother and a former waitress. She testified this week that Marshall looked sad that day and even "slobbered" a little. Her performance apparently lifted his spirits. He began lavishing her with jewelry, gifts and money as her career took off, first as the 1993 Playboy Playmate of the Year, then as a model for Guess? jeans. She affectionately nicknamed him "Paw Paw." They married at a Houston drive-in wedding chapel in June 1994. He was 89. She was 26. He died the next August. His heirs have been fighting ever since. His ashes were even divided between Smith and her principal nemesis, E. Pierce Marshall, the son with power of attorney over his father's estate. The probate lawsuit, then, before Judge Mike Wood, has made for an unwelcome family reunion. Smith, now 33 and living in Los Angeles, already has one victory under her belt. Last September, she argued before a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in California that her husband had promised her half of everything he had. Lawyers for E. Pierce Marshall, 62, said she was not mentioned in any will and was entitled to nothing. But the judge awarded Smith nearly $450-million, saying Marshall had illegally prevented her from her rightful share of her husband's wealth, which was estimated at $2-billion. (Marshall's camp says the estate is actually worth no more than $60-million.) Lawyers for Marshall have appealed the California ruling, contending that the judge misapplied the law. In the probate case in Texas, Marshall's lawyers contend Smith illegally interfered with his inheritance rights. Another brother, the disinherited J. Howard III, is a participant as well. For months, the trial has been long and mostly boring. But Smith's arrival on the stand has rescued reporters and invigorated the case, at least theatrically. Her three days of testimony have been so unpredictable and accusation-laden that Wood is asking a district attorney to investigate whether Smith committed perjury after she said E. Pierce Marshall had tried to kill her, her husband and Lady Walker. On Wednesday, an exasperated Wood told Smith that "a lot of your testimony in the last day or so has been made-up stories," adding that he would hold her in contempt of court if she didn't answer questions accurately. "How am I contempting myself?" Smith asked. "I'm sorry you think I'm a liar." Smith's testimony has been dominated by a sarcastic back-and-forth between her and Rusty Hardin, the lead lawyer for E. Pierce Marshall. Even members of the jury have laughed at their jousting. He calls her "Ms. Marshall. She calls him "Rusty." But the politesse has ended there. He has hammered her with questions designed to depict her as truth-challenged and a less-than-dutiful wife. Her lawyer has offered objections, mostly in vain, accusing Hardin of harassment. Smith, who has held her wedding picture while testifying, has frustrated Hardin by showing a singular ability to answer "yes" or "no" questions with run-on sentences. Typical of the repartee was a Wednesday exchange about Smith's assertion that her husband promised her half of his estate. Hardin: "Ms. Marshall, is the answer to my question that you cannot show us and direct us to a single document that shows Mr. Marshall promised you half?" Smith: "I would have to get back to you on that one, Rusty." Hardin: "Okay, well that's very nice of you, Ms. Marshall, but I'm asking you right now do you know of any?" Smith: "I will have to get back to you because I'm going to have to go and look at papers." Hardin: "When this is all over, Ms. Marshall, wouldn't you and I both prefer that neither of us get back to the other?" Smith: "Oh, gosh." And so it went. Hardin worked to portray her as a gold digger. Smith portrayed herself as a good wife who provided love and companionship to a lonely man during his last days. She testified that she loved her husband because he was the only person who ever accepted her unconditionally. "He took me out of a terrible place, took care of me. He was my savior," Smith said. "It wasn't a sexual "baby, oh baby, I love your body' type love, it was a deep "thank you' for taking me out of this hole." Smith said she declined Marshall's marriage proposals for more than two years because she wanted to make a name for herself "so nobody could call me a gold digger, but I guess that backfired didn't it?" "How much gold did you get over the next few years?" Hardin asked. "Quite a bit, Rusty," Smith replied. She admitted that she blew through the $5,000 to $10,000 in cash Marshall sent her each week. "It's very expensive to be me. It's terrible the things I have to do to be me," Smith said, explaining that she needed designer gowns and shoes to attend weekly movie premieres. "I am serious. I pay a lot of money to be me." If her story occasionally lacked consistency and if she stumbled at times over dates and pesky facts, her admirers did not seem to mind. "She's adorable," said Helen Morris, a court assistant who slipped in to hear a few minutes of testimony. "You go, girl! That's all I can say. You go, girl!" This much is certain: Smith will return to the stand on Feb. 12. And her husband's estate appears likely be tied up in courts in California and Texas for some time to come.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
