Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely been exposed to some form of media coverage regarding the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Her friends and family members say they will remember her as a loving mother to her two children. However, to the rest of the world Smith is better known as a Playboy Playmate who died too young.
Sadly, Smith’s death at age 39 puts her into a grisly sorority of Playmates who never reached their 50th birthday. While the official cause of Smith’s death has yet to be determined, growing speculation points to her use of prescription drugs and a weak heart. Meanwhile, various health problems, accidents, plane crashes and homicides all have claimed the lives of former Playmates, who now welcome Smith to their “club.”
So, is it a curse to be beautiful? It’s a question some popular culture historians have been asking in the days since Smith’s unexplained death. Smith was pretty enough to land on the cover and in the pages of Playboy magazine—an honor held by some 600 other women (since the magazine began publishing in the 1950s). A cover shot can thrust a Playmate in the spotlight and if you consider the limited number of women who have appeared in the magazine and its wide circulation it stands to reason that the death of a centerfold would be newsworthy.
Take a look of these other headline grabbing deaths. What do they all have in common? Like Smith they were all Playboy Playmates who died before they reached the age of 50.
Eve Meyer was a 1955 Playmate who was killed (with 550 others) when two airliners collided on takeoff at Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1977. She was 46.
Legendary centerfold Jayne Mansfield, another Playmate, died in a car crash in 1967 at the age of 34.
The woman who graced Playboy’s inaugural edition, Marilyn Monroe, famously died at age 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Just a few short weeks after being named Playmate of the year in 1980, Dorothy Stratten was murdered by her jealous estranged husband. She was just 20-years-old.
Another Playmate-turned murder victim was Ellen Louise Maligo, known in Playboy as “Star Stowe.” She was killed in 1997 at age 40.
In the 1960s and 70s three Playmates died suddenly. Tonya Crews, Carol Willis and 1970 Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings all died in car accidents while still in their 20s.
Finally, less than 7 years ago, 28-year-old Playmate Elisa Bridges died after being found unresponsive in bed. Playboy said she died of natural causes, but others speculate she died of an accidental drug overdose.
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Anna Nicole Smith – 1967 – 2007