The next time I was supposed to see Howard K. Stern was at his wedding to Anna Nicole Smith in two weeks — a celebration. Instead, I find myself with him sharing one of the darkest moments of his life. On our flight from Florida — where Anna still lies in a cold medical examiner’s office — to the Bahamas, our thoughts are on Anna and little baby Dannielynn, who we are rushing to see for the first time since her mother’s sudden and shocking death on Thursday.
Howard, in tears, at times unable to speak, shares with me that his daughter is the light helping him go on. As the plane lifts above the clouds, Howard thinks of those his precious Anna Nicole left behind. In a voice barely heard above the din of the jet engines he tells me, “I want her friends to pray that Anna Nicole is safe, happy and with Daniel.”
It was hard to leave Anna’s body behind, but he had to get back to his baby girl. Others are already traveling to the Bahamas with an eye on Dannielynn. One of them is Virgie Arthur, Anna’s biological mother, who she detested. Anna told me in October, “She’s not my mother, she’s my birth mother.”
She is not a welcome guest. Howard begins to bristle at the mention of her name. He says, “As long as I have a breath in my body, that woman will not see Dannielynn.”
I ask about Virgie’s quest to assume custody of the five-month-old baby, who takes Howard’s last name on her birth certificate. After all, Howard is the only father she’s ever known. He answers, not as an attorney, but as a protective parent. “She has no right. She can’t take my baby. She can’t take Anna’s baby.”
After the plane touches down in the Bahamas, watching Howard hold Dannielynn for the first time since her mother’s death is heart-wrenching. With tears rolling down his face he reveals the depth of his pain: “I wouldn’t be here now, but I had to get back to Dannielynn. I held her in my arms and couldn’t believe her mom is gone. I know Anna loved her more than anything in the world.”
The interview begins airing today on Entertainment Tonight.
Celebrity Warship
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