Anna Nicole Smith's Ex-Boyfriend Killed In South Carolina

Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend, Mark Hatten, was killed in South Carolina on May 3, 2020, according to TMZ. Hatten was involved in an incident with another man in Greeleyville, South Carolina, and the situation escalated into a shooting, leaving Hatten dead. The outlet is unclear what led up to the deadly shooting.

According to Greeleyville's local newspaper, Kings Tree News, Hatten, who was known as "Hollywood" in the area, was actually involved in a prior incident the day before, on May 2. Police were called and "Hatten was charged with No Trespass and spent the night in jail," according to the outlet. The local news also says that law enforcement could not verify what had transpired between the two men both on the day before and the day of the shooting.

Kings Tree News said that Hatten moved to Greeleyville after he served a prison sentence for threatening his ex-girlfriend, Anna Nicole Smith. The two dated in early 2000, according to The Sun, and had a volatile relationship. Keep reading to find out what went down.

Anna Nicole Smith began dating Mark Hatten in 2000, according to TMZ. Smith met Hatten "shortly before the March 2000 Academy Awards," according to her court testimony, repeated by the Los Angeles Times. Hatten was an "artist" who also worked to promote auto dealerships and Smith said she "began a sexual relationship with him 'around Oscar time' that year."

In a 2017 interview with In Touch, Hatten gave his own account of how he met the former Playmate. Hatten said Smith was best friends with his sister, Jackie Hatten, saying the two women met in 1992. Hatten admitted to being married at the time to another woman, but when they ended things, his sister helped the relationship take off. Hatten and Smith first met at an Italian restaurant and, according to In Touch, he claims that the first time Smith saw Hatten, she said: "Oh my God, I want to have a baby with you!"

While things started out so optimistically between Smith and Hatten, the relationship got rocky really quickly and even involved violence, police calls, and prison time.

Mark Hatten gave his account of his relationship with Playboy Playmate star, Anna Nicole Smith, to In Touch and said: "We dated from January 2000 to March 2002. We were living together."

Meanwhile, Smith tried to claim that their relationship only lasted a few months but it turned out that wasn't true. Instead, the couple had a volatile, on-again/off-again relationship that went on for a few years. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Defense attorney Peter Knecht said Smith had a sporadic, two-year sexual relationship with Hatten, despite Smith's testimony that she only dated him for only three months."

There were several alarming episodes between Smith and Hatten, which resulted in the court case in July 2002, chronicled by the Los Angeles Times. Smith said of Hatten in court: "I'm very scared of this man because he's crazy."

She claimed that in June 2000, Hatten threatened her with a knife in their North Hollywood home. She didn't call the police, though, according to the Los Angeles Times, because she was in "litigation over the estate of her husband, J. Howard Marshall" and didn't want negative press.

Smith claimed that Hatten continued to stalk her from June 2000 to March 2002, when Hatten came over to Smith's home and beat up Smith's neighbor, Rene Navarro, who asked Hatten to leave.

According to TMZ, Hatten served almost seven years in prison for his criminal threats against Smith and for attacking her neighbor.

It was devastating when news broke that Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007 of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 39, according to The Sun. According to the news outlet, Smith's son, Daniel, died of a drug overdose in 2006 at the age of 20 and the year before she died, Smith's life was one of tragedy and grief at the loss of her eldest child.

In an interview with In Touch in May 2017, Mark Hatten, Smith's ex-boyfriend, claims that the model "died of a broken heart." He said to the outlet: "When I heard Daniel died I knew she wouldn't last long. I've seen people pamper their kids but he was literally her world. She died of a broken heart."

When asked what kind of a mother Smith was, Hatten answered: "Wonderful."

Hatten admitted that he and Smith never spoke again after he went to prison but it seems he kept tabs on Smith throughout her life and memorialized her when she died as a devoted and wonderful mother.