Tragic Details About Anna Nicole Smith's Ex Larry Birkhead & His Health Issues

Larry Birkhead has usually made a point of keeping his and his daughter's lives private, but in a fairly rare Instagram post where he opened up about his own health, he shared that he hadn't been doing too well in September 2025. However, let's just say the doting dad didn't let that get in the way of the chance to celebrate his little girl.

In a touching video shared to his Instagram in honor of his and Anna Nicole Smith's daughter Dannielynn Birkhead's 19th birthday, Larry shared that they hadn't started her birthday weekend together. Far from it — he revealed that he'd been in the ER right at the start and was being treated for a muscle tear as well as kidney stones. Double ouch. Though the kidney stones needed no explanation, Larry didn't go into detail about which muscle he'd torn or how. However, he did share that he'd shaken it all off in order to spend the weekend with his daughter. "After this dad busted out of the emergency room ... Dannielynns 19th birthday weekend celebration got started!" he wrote. Larry finished off by thanking everyone who had sent happy birthday wishes, adding, "She read all the messages and appreciates it (despite my late post due to unforeseen circumstances!)."

We still don't know what happened to Birkhead that caused both a muscle tear and kidney stones all at the same time; like we said, he prefers to keep his day-to-day life fairly private. Even so, we're glad to know he was well enough to leave the hospital (busting out or not) to party with his only child.

Larry Birkhead's determination to get out of the ER to celebrate his daughter isn't that surprising when taking into account just how committed he is to being the best solo parent he can be. After all, from 2006 onwards, he's been very open about wanting to be the most stable presence in Dannielynn Birkhead's life — even when doing so has been challenging.

Of course, many will remember the wild paternity scandal that erupted after Anna Nicole Smith claimed her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, was Dannielynn's father. Birkhead famously fought that, with his legal rep making it clear that they weren't planning on giving up their legal fight, no matter how long the process would be. Ultimately, it was proven that Birkhead was Dannielynn's father a few months after Smith's tragic passing in early 2007. Birkhead and Stern were incredibly cordial in the wake of the confirmation, with Birkhead telling Today, "I have no problem with anyone that has good intentions being allowed to visit the baby and see the baby and be a part of the baby's life."

Birkhead later said that it wasn't always easy to root out the people with actually bad intentions, sharing in a June 2025 interview with E! News that he'd become hyper-alert whenever his daughter made new friends. "It feels like I'm always on security duty, always scanning the room," he admitted. That being said, he added that the situation certainly wasn't all bad, and he gushed over all the outside support they'd received over the years. So while Birkhead has faced many challenges as a solo parent to an icon's daughter, it's clear that he's committed to being a devoted dad in spite of it all — limelight-seekers, legal battles, and kidney stones, be damned!