From when Dannielynn Birkhead was five years old, people could not get over the similarities between the little girl and Anna Nicole Smith. Between their blonde hair and winning smiles, observers couldn’t help but see Anna Nicole — the famous Playboy magazine model who tragically died from an accidental overdose in 2007, five months after her son Daniel Wayne Smith died the same way– in little Dannielynn. Since Anna Nicole’s passing, Dannielynn’s father, Larry Birkhead, has looked over their daughter. The two have become fixtures at the Kentucky Derby in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, always showing up dressed in the brightest fashions. In 2023, Dannielynn looked like the spitting image of her mother when she attended the Barnstable Gala.
The late model and reality television star’s life was the subject of Netflix’s Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me. The film, which premiered in May 2023, “will document Smith’s life, from her Houston upbringing to her rise to fame that included the cover of Playboy, modeling for Guess, and appearing in such Hollywood projects as the 1994 film Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult and E! series The Anna Nicole Show,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
“I feel like many previous books and films about Anna Nicole twisted her narrative, so I felt fortunate to have access to a wealth of audio and TV interviews, including personal phone calls that involved Anna Nicole,” director Ursula Macfarlane (Untouchable) told Netflix’s Tudum website. “I really feel like she is telling her own story in her own words. And with the contributions of people in her life who genuinely knew her, I feel that we’ve been able to get closer to her truth.”
However, Dannielynn and Larry were not among those voices. “We aren’t involved in the Anna Nicole Netflix documentary,” Larry told the New York Post. He added that he and Dannielynn are making their own special project, one in which they “can make sure that the people involved are truly connected with Anna and that we have a certain level of control over the way the story is told.”
Larry said he and his daughter passed on the program “after discussions with production over who would and wouldn’t be included. “I had to make that decision after seeing production after production following the same format and using the same people saying they were ‘friends’ with Anna. It’s important for me, and I owe it to my daughter Dannielynn that only credible people are involved in Anna’s story, and so I decided one way to get that assurance is to do our own project.”
With that said, here’s what you need to know about Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter and her late son.
How Old Is Dannielynn Now?
Dannielynn was born on Sept. 7, 2006. That makes Anna Nicole’s daughter 17 years old as of November 2023. Her father, Larry, took to Instagram on Sept. 7, 2023 to celebrate her 17th birthday with an adorable video montage (see above). “Happy 17th Birthday Dannielynn! I am so proud of you in each and every way. Wishing you the best day ever ! You are funny, crazy smart, pretty and just about everything I could ever imagine. Your Mom would be so proud of you, I sure am,” his caption began. “Happy Birthday! Love Dad 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 #HappyBirthday.”
Who Is Dannielynn’s Father?
Dannielynn’s father is Larry Birkhead, a celebrity photographer who’s now 50 years old. He met Anna Nicole at the Kentucky Derby in 2004, but the romance that happened afterward was hush-hush. “No one ever knew one time that I was her boyfriend,” Larry said in an older 20/20 special, which aired in 2017. “The whole time we dated, if you look at all the videos, I’m in the back carrying my camera bag … she didn’t want me in the spotlight.”
However, confusion over the true identity of Dannielynn’s father ensued after her birth in 2006. In his 20/20 interview, Larry claimed that he had a fight with Anna Nicole five months into her pregnancy and that she left him for the Bahamas. When the baby was delivered, Dannielynn’s father was listed as attorney Howard K. Stern (Anna Nicole’s partner at the time) on her birth certificate, which Larry challenged with a lawsuit. After a DNA test, Larry was confirmed as Dannielynn’s biological father in April of 2007.
Larry has been a devoted father ever since and even takes Dannielynn to the Kentucky Derby (where her parents met) as a yearly tradition. Although they had to watch the Kentucky Derby from home in 2020 due to the pandemic, you can see a photo of them at the 2019 horse racing event above.
