Eight years after her mother Anna Nicole Smith’s untimely death, Dannielynn Birkhead is growing into a gorgeous little girl – and is the absolute spitting image of her mum.
The beginning of little Dannielynn’s life was shrouded in tragedy. Three days after her birth in the Bahamas her half-brother Daniel Wayne Smith, who she is named after, passed away from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and methadone.
At just five-months-old, heartbreak struck again when her reality star mother Anna Nicole died from what the authorities called “combined drug intoxication.”
Mystery also surrounded the identity of Dannielynn’s true father. While Anna Nicole claimed it was her then-partner Howard K. Stern, paternity tests revealed photographer Larry Birkhead was Dannielynn’s biological dad and he was awarded custody. Larry and his daughter now live in Louisville, Kentucky.
Fast forward to 2015 and the Playboy cover girl’s only daughter is flourishing and truly following in her mother’s footsteps as she dabbles with modelling and television.
When she was six-years-old Dannielynn starred in a sentimental Guess campaign, which paid tribute to former Guess girl Anna Nicole. She’s also starred in Celebrity Wife Swap and an E! special Life After Anna Nicole.
And Larry knows Anna Nicole would be looking down with pride. “She is doing great, getting super tall and just has become this funny, intelligent, beautiful girl that I am so proud of,” he told USA Today of his darling eight-year-old daughter in May.
“She loves Pokemon characters especially Pikachu. She is a thrill seeker like her mum and she drags me to King’s Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, nearly every chance she gets. I am so protective. She wants to ride larger roller coasters than I will allow,” the 42-year-old added.
Click through the gallery to check out Dannielynn Birkhead’s journey
Then and now: (L-R) In 2006, a proud Anna Nicole Smith cradles her baby girl three months after her birth in the Bahamas. Dannielynn makes her way into the Today show for a TV appearance in New York in November, 2013.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! The gorgeous eight-year-old has inherited her mother’s striking features.
Just like Anna Nicole! In 2013 Dannielynn and Larry starred in the E! special Life After Anna Nicole. The one-hour special showed what life was like for the father-daughter duo in Louisville, Kentucky. Meanwhile her mother won a legion of fans with her kooky E! reality show, aptly named The Anna Nicole Show, which ran from 2002-2004.
“I have to be both parents. Some days she gets sad her mum’s no longer here, but other days she’s very accepting and will say, ‘I have an angel for a mum,'” Larry, pictured on the left in 2011 and on the right in 2014, explained during the E! special which showed just how strong his bond with his daughter is.
Keeping with tradition: In a touching tribute, the duo attend the Kentucky Derby ever year as it is the event where Larry first met Anna Nicole back in 2004. (L-R) At the 2012 bash, the child model stunned with her doe eyes and cherubic lips and at this year’s event she looked the picture of happiness and confidence.
Dannielynn cuts a super cute figure at the 2014 Kentucky Derby while mum Anna Nicole was in good spirits at the 2004 event.
“She is doing great, getting super tall and just has become this funny, intelligent, beautiful girl that I am so proud of,” the 42-year-old told USA Today of his only child.
“She is a thrill seeker like her mum,” Larry has revealed.
Model and reality star Anna Nicole, who first found fame after marrying 89-year-old millionaire J. Howard Marshall II when she was just 26, welcomed her gorgeous little girl in the Bahamas in 2006. Tragically, the star passed away from a drug overdose just five months later.
So where to from here? “I just got offered to do a father-daughter movie, but we don’t know. We try to be conservative and let her be a kid – she’s in Girl Scouts right now,” Larry explained to US Weekly earlier in the year.
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