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September 19, 2006
Anna Nicole Smith’s Reputation in Crisis Again with Son’s Death and New Baby Drama
PHOTO: Anna Nicole Smith In Conservative Dress
“Smith ordered the follow-up autopsy to end "media speculation surrounding the matter.”
Commented Anna Nicole Smith’s Bahamian attorney Michael Scott.
Anna Nicole Smith's son was on prescription anti-depression medication when he died at the hospital bedside of the former reality TV star, a pathologist who did a second autopsy on the 20-year-old said Monday.
Daniel Smith began taking a ''quite low'' dosage of prescription antidepressants four to six weeks ago, said forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht. He said he did not know whether the medication played any role in the death. He is still awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.
Daniel was found last Sunday morning slumped in a chair, covered in blood and vomit. The cause of death has not been determined.
Smith ordered the follow-up autopsy to end "media speculation surrounding the matter," said her Bahamian lawyer, Michael Scott.
PHOTO: Pathologist Cyrus Wecht
Wecht, who ordered drug and chemical analyses that could take weeks, said he learned about the prescription medication after the autopsy from Daniel Smith's psychiatrist in the United States. The depression apparently "had to do with a girlfriend," he said.
He said he and the Bahamian coroner who did the first autopsy agreed there was no evidence Daniel Smith died from a "suicidal overdose."
Smith died Sept. 10 at a hospital room in the Bahamas where the former Playboy model was recuperating from childbirth. Witnesses including Anna Nicole's lawyer Howard Stern, who was in the room with the family at the time, said Daniel Smith had arrived on the island chain the previous day in good spirits, according to Wecht.
Bahamian pathologists performed an autopsy Sept. 12 and were expecting toxicology results this week, but the coroner's office has said the findings will not be released before a jury inquest scheduled for Oct. 23.
"He got off the plane and he was delighted. He was happy to be there with his mother and his sister," Wecht told The Associated Press.
A funeral home embalmed Daniel's remains on Monday and was awaiting further instructions from the family.
Anna Nicole Smith, who came to the Bahamas during her pregnancy to avoid media scrutiny, was making the arrangements with the help of a lawyer.
"To protect her privacy, you have to be very creative in the ways we communicate with her," said Loretta Butler-Turner, the director of the funeral home hired by the family.
The 38-year-old celebrity has not indicated whether she will return to the United States with the body, Butler-Turner said.
PHOTO: Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead, baby’s father
The man who claims to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's newborn daughter says the blond bombshell ran off to the Bahamas to give birth to keep their child away from him.
Larry Birkhead, a celebrity photographer and journalist who dated the reality-TV star on and off for two years, says Smith, 38, tried to cut him out of the baby's life, forcing him to keep his paternal status a secret and running away to the Caribbean.
Wecht, 75, is known as a critic of the Warren Commission's single-gunman theory of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
He is facing trial on charges he used his staff when he was the coroner in Allegheny County, Pa., to do work for his multimillion-dollar private pathology practice. He resigned from office in January and contends he did nothing wrong.
PHOTO: Anna Nicole Smith and Deceased Son, Daniel Wayne Smith
A few comments from the Reputation Doctor regarding Anna Nicole Smith:
Never order a second autopsy because of media speculation, order a second autopsy to gain the truth and nothing but the truth about the death of your son!
Anna, your son is dead. It is tragic and it is very sad. Isn’t it about time you did the right thing? Don’t try to cover the truth. It will bubble to the top with or without you. If your son was depressed about his girlfriend, upset about his own life in general and/or worried about the birth of his new sister who he also probably feared would now gain all of your attention, it is time to tell it all, fully and completely. If your attorney, manager or others are counseling you to do otherwise, that is a big mistake.
Your new daughter needs her father and Daniel’s problems probably have roots in not having a loving father in his day-to-day life. All children need their father and without them, they will have problems in life.
If there is one lesson Anna can learn from the tragedy of her son, it is that her new daughter also needs her father tremendously. Running to the Bahamas will not stop solve her problems. Do the right thing, in Daniel’s name, and allow the baby’s father to be in her life as soon as possible. This is not about you. This is about what is best for your daughter.
Your reputation is in crisis because of all the personal choices and decisions you made. You must now live with the consequences and/or make lasting change.
This lesson is direct, blunt and to the point because some lessons have to knock us upside-the-head before we get it. Personal responsibility, transparency and accountability are desperately needed in Anna Nicole Smith’s life and, quite frankly, all of our lives. How are you doing in these areas yourself? Are you being honest with yourself or are you too avoiding the obvious problems in your reputation due to fear? It’s time for a reputation audit to find out the truth.
Remember, do the right thing when your reputation is in crisis and seek the counsel of an experienced reputation management expert. It will be a major challenge, but ultimately the rewards of repairing your reputation will be great. Why? Because Your Reputation Is Everything! ™
About Mike Paul
Mike Paul is editor of The Reputation Doctor blog. The Reputation Doctor is a nickname given to him by various clients. Mike's blog is located at www.ReputationDoctor.com. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, BBC, and others as a weekly contributor and expert in the global news regarding leaders, celebrities, corporations and other organizations with reputations in crisis. Mr. Paul is also president and senior counselor of MGP & Associates PR (www.mgppr.com), a leading strategic public relations and reputation management firm based in New York. For interview requests, speeches, senior counseling or other business opportunities with Mr. Paul, call 212-595-8500 or email info@mgppr.com.
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