Anna Nicole Smith's Mom Had One Request For Larry Birkhead Before Her Death

On May 16, 2023, Netflix released "Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me," a one-hour, forty-minute documentary highlighting the life and death of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. In the documentary, fans once again got a glimpse into Smith's tumultuous relationship with her mother, Virgie Arthur — a situation believed to have stemmed from the model's unpleasant experiences. "She told me about Virgie, her mother. She was in law enforcement, and she was kind of a tyrant. She would handcuff her to the bed for days and just beat her mercilessly," Smith's friend Missy Byrum said in the documentary, per Daily Beast.

Regardless of how volatile their relationship was, however, Arthur's motherly love for her daughter never wavered. In a 2017 interview with DailyMail, Arthur opened up about how devastated she was about the death of her daughter and grandson (Smith's son Daniel died of an accidental overdose in September 2006). "People say that you get over it but you never get over it. You never forget and you never get over it," she admitted to the outlet.

But while Smith and Daniel's death might have shattered her world, Arthur found solace in the model's only living child Dannielynn Birkhead whom she welcomed only a few months before her death. And in a bid to carry on her daughter's legacy, before she died in 2018, Virgie Arthur had one request from Dannielynn's father, Larry Birkhead.

In her final interview with the Daily Mail in 2017, Virgie Arthur revealed that save for occasional pictures that Larry Birkhead sends, she had minimal contact with Dannielynn Birkhead. At the time, Arthur had reportedly not seen her granddaughter for seven years. "I want to be part of Dannielynn's life. She is my daughter's child and the only one left in that line of lives. ...  [Dannielynn] never has got to know any of them. It's not fair to her not to know her mother's side of the family," Arthur said in the interview.

While she accused Larry of alienating Dannielynn from her maternal family, Arthur insisted that she would someday lead her to find out more about her mother. "Vickie Lynn was very curious and Dannielynn will be too. Every daughter wants to know their mother," she noted. But despite not having an existing relationship, in the interview Arthur called out to her granddaughter, telling the little one she is holding out hope for a reconnection. "I hope that one day you will come find us, baby, and you can see how your momma lived and what fun she was," she said.

Despite Arthur's allegations, however, Birkhead claimed in an interview with Inside Edition that Dannielynn had in fact met with her grandmother. "Anna's mom has seen Dannielynn, and she's seen her a few times. I say that only because I want the story to stop," he told the outlet.

Following Anna Nicole Smith's tragic death in 2007, Virgie Arthur feared for the life of her granddaughter. "I was scared to death that Dannielynn would be the next one that died. I was scared to death so I went to the Bahamas to see if there was any way I could stop it and it not happen to her,' she told DailyMail in her final interview. True to her words, back in February 2007, a few weeks after Smith's death, People reported that Arthur had met Dannielynn for the first time.

So, in a bid to protect her, Arthur asked to be actively involved in Dannielynn's life. After a failed dialogue, the former law enforcement agent soon found herself locked in a custody battle with Dannielynn's father, Larry Birkhead. While Arthur asked for joint custody, Birkhead argued he should receive full custody as the child's father. "It would imply that I'm unfit as a parent, which I'm not. I'm looking forward to giving Dannielynn everything that she needs and all the love and support," he said at the time per Today. Eventually, Birkhead was awarded full custody of Dannielynn. 

These days, the teenager enjoys a quiet life in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lives with her father. "Dannielynn is such a great kid and she makes me so proud every day," Birkhead gushed to People in May 2023. "I can't believe she is old enough to drive! It seems like yesterday I was pushing her in a toy car!"