Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of death and drug abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
Anna Nicole Smith’s son, Daniel Wayne Smith, was 20 years old when he died of a drug overdose on September 10, 2006. The incident occurred while Daniel was visiting Smith after she gave birth to her daughter Dannielynn in the Bahamas, per Reuters. A few months later, in February 2007, the former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith also died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in Florida. She was 39 years old at the time of her death.
Daniel was born on January 22, 1986, to Anna Nicole Smith, born Vickie Lynn Hogan, and her first husband, Billy Wayne Smith. According to Radio Times, the couple separated in 1993, following which Smith and her mother, Virgie Arthur, raised Daniel Texas until he turned six. Smith then married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, whom she met at a strip club in 1994. Her son then became Marshall’s stepson.
The outlet reported that Smith’s son Daniel was 16 years old when he appeared as himself in The Anna Nicole Show. The reality TV show ran from 2002 to 2004, but Daniel did not participate in the second season. He also played roles in two of Smith’s movies – Skyscraper and To the Limit.
What was Anna Nicole Smith’s son Daniel Wayne Smith’s cause of death?
According to ABC News, a private autopsy conducted on Anna Nicole Smith’s son revealed details about his death. Daniel Wayne Smith’s cause of death was an accidental overdose caused by a combination of methadone and two antidepressant drugs.
U.S. pathologist Cyril Wecht, who conducted a private autopsy, said the 20-year-old had methadone, Zoloft, and Lexapro in his system. This combination produced a fatal “cumulative effect on the central nervous system,” causing his tragic demise on September 10, 2006.
Reuters stated that Smith’s son Daniel died in her room at Doctors Hospital in the Bahamian capital of Nassau. At the time, he was visiting his mother and newborn half-sister, Dannielynn. Daniel had arrived in the Bahamas the night before his death and went directly to the hospital where his mother had been recuperating, per Cleveland19. He reportedly spent the night in the same room as Smith, her attorney and boyfriend Howard K. Stern, and Dannielynn.
Wecht said, “The fact that we have these drugs and the levels of the drugs overwhelmingly and most logically point to this being a tragic, accidental, drug-related death. No one has suggested anything having to do with drug addiction in this boy [Daniel Wayne Smith].”
ABC further reported that Zoloft and Lexapro are antidepressants commonly used by people suffering from anxiety and panic disorders. Methadone is a pain reliever that is used by recovering drug addicts.
Anna Nicole Smith’s son was reportedly suffering from depression in the weeks leading up to his death. Cyril Wecht said it was difficult to determine how long it took for Daniel’s death to occur, reported ABC. Wecht stated that his baseline methadone tolerance possibly played a key role in his demise. “How fast this death occurred depends on a number of different things,” he said.
Wecht further said, “No doctor should prescribe all of these drugs.” Reportedly, the California-based physician of Anna Nicole Smith’s son had prescribed him the Zoloft. The pathologist further stated, “I don’t know who prescribed him the Lexapro and the methadone. He should have just been taking one antidepressant. He shouldn’t have been taking two at the same time.”
Netflix’s Anna Nicole Smith: Don’t Know Me chronicles the model’s struggles and successes along with the tragedies she faced. The documentary also looks at the tragic demise of Smith’s son, Daniel Wayne Smith, and the life of her daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, after his death.
