Former Playboy Playmate, actress, and model Anna Nicole Smith’s cause of death was ruled to be combined drug intoxication. She accidentally overdosed on prescription medication in February 2007 while traveling to Hollywood, Florida. An autopsy found many drugs, including pain relievers like methadone, in her body, per the New York Times.
Reportedly, Smith fell gravely ill during her stay at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. A few days later, her private nurse found the model unresponsive in her room. Later, medical staff at the Memorial Regional Hospital pronounced her dead at 2:49 p.m. on February 8, 2007. The medical examiner announced Smith’s cause of death following an autopsy.
Smith’s tragic death came months after she gave birth to her daughter, Dannielynn, in September 2006. That same month, she lost her son, Daniel, to an accidental drug overdose. According to Sportskeeda, 20-year-old Daniel died while visiting the former playmate in her hospital room three days after she gave birth to Dannielynn. There, he accidentally overdosed on a lethal combination of methadone and antidepressants.
Anna Nicole Smith’s cause of death & autopsy report explained
The New York Times reported Broward County medical examiner Dr. Joshua A. Perper ruled Anna Nicole Smith’s cause of death as combined drug intoxication. The former Playboy Playmate reportedly died of an accidental prescription drug overdose.
Dr. Preper performed Smith’s autopsy, which found traces of several drugs in her body. These drugs reportedly included muscle relaxants, pain relievers like methadone, and multiple anti-anxiety medicines. He ruled that the primary drug was the potent sedative chloral hydrate. The medical examiner further described that an intestinal flu and a bacterial infection, possibly from an injection with a contaminated needle, were contributing factors. Moreover, he found no illegal drugs in her system.
The outlet reported that Smith’s private nurse, Tasma Brighthaupt, found her unresponsive in her Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino suite on February 8, 2007. The model was reportedly traveling to Hollywood, Florida, at the time and was still mourning her son, Daniel, who died under similar circumstances.
Daniel was visiting his mother in her hospital room three days after she gave birth to her daughter in September 2006. Similar to Smith’s cause of death, her son died of a lethal drug combination.
Preper said that on the night the 39-year-old arrived in South Florida, she had a fever of 105. This fever was likely caused by the infection she had from injecting longevity drugs—a combination of vitamin B12, immunoglobulins, and human growth hormone—into her buttocks. Instead of going to an emergency room, the model broke her fever in an ice bath and took antibiotics and flu medicine before going to sleep.
Over the next few days, Smith continued taking chloral hydrate to get to sleep at night despite regaining strength. The medical examiner said, “When many drugs act together, they may often have unpredictable and dangerous effects.”
According to ABC News, Preper also mentioned, “A fever of 105 is life-threatening, but she refused, and she’s not a child. She has the right to refuse and the people around her determined that she could make such a decision. If she had gone to the hospital, I think that yes, she would have had a chance of survival.”
The outlet further mentioned Preper’s comments on Smith’s cause of death. He noted that none of the medications in Smith’s blood were at extremely high levels except for chloral hydrate. The sleep medication played a major role in her death.
Earlier this year, Netflix debuted a documentary Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me, to honor the late model’s legacy. It looks into her controversial life, including her partners and the tragedies she suffered.
