Anna Nicole Smith and oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall. Anna was a 24-year-old stripper when she met the 86-year-old billionaire.
While performing at a Houston strip club in October 1991, Smith met 86-year-old petroleum tycoon J. Howard Marshall.
During their two-year affair, Marshall reportedly lavished expensive gifts on Smith and asked her to marry him several times.
On June 27, 1994, Smith and Marshall were married in Houston, resulting in speculation that she married him for his money.
She maintained that she loved Marshall and that age did not matter to her.
On August 4, 1995, thirteen months after his marriage to Smith, Marshall died in Houston at the age of 90. and left his estimated $1.6 billion estate to his son, E. Pierce Marshall, and nothing to Smith.
Even though Smith was not in Marshall’s will, she claimed that in return for marriage, Marshall verbally promised her half of his estate, which primarily consisted of a 16% interest in Koch Industries, then worth $1.6 billion.
Smith’s stepson E. Pierce Marshall disputed the claim.
Smith temporarily joined forces with J. Howard’s other son, J. Howard Marshall III, who was disowned after attempting to take control of Koch Industries. Howard III also claimed that his father had verbally promised him a portion of the estate; like Smith, Howard III was also left out of his father’s will.
Over the course of nearly 20 years, all courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have rejected Smith’s lawyers’ various attempts to overturn Marshall’s will and trust and to obtain money from his estate.
Anna Nicole Smith died on February 8, 2007 of an accidental drug overdose.
