If you haven’t already heard the “earth-shattering” news—according to news reports, DNA test results revealed yesterday that Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter Dannielynn. Are you surprised? (Families.com members contributing to a “Who’s The Daddy” poll in the forums shouldn’t be—they pegged Birkhead as the father weeks ago.)
Anna Nicole’s ex-boyfriend (well, one of them at least) turns out to be the 7-month-old’s biological father—so does this mean the end to the media madness over all things related to the former Playboy Playmate? And, what of Smith’s companion Howard K. Stern (the man listed on Dannielynn’s birth certificate as her father)? Not to mention the ever-present Virgie Arthur (Smith’s mother) who has made herself an ever-present hurdle in the lives of both the men involved with the former model?
I’ll take the liberty of answering my own questions by starting with a big NOT. In my opinion, there is no way the media is going to walk away just because DNA results confirmed what most people believed was true from the start. PUH-LEEZE! The gaggle of paparazzi only grew when Stern gave Birkhead a hug outside the Bahamas courthouse after the paternity results were announced. What’s more, Birkhead has yet to gain custody of the little girl.
Which brings us to Virgie Arthur. Forget about Stern being Birkhead’s rival in the paternity case. It’s Smith’s mother who now says she plans to challenge Birkhead’s fitness as a father. Arthur says she wants custody of Dannielynn and will stop at nothing to get it. (Hasn’t this woman’s 15 minutes expired yet?)
In the end the court will decide who will get custody of Dannielynn. Birkhead’s DNA matched Dannielynn’s, but a judge has yet to make a ruling about custody (the parties involved in the case will be back in court on Friday afternoon). According to legal analysts: “Even though someone is the biological father, that doesn’t mean he gets custody.”
So, does this mean that Stern still has a chance to retain custody? I doubt it. However, he is still the executor of Smith’s yet-to-be-filed will and the battle over the estimated $1.6 billion estate left by Smith’s second husband, J. Howard Marshall II is still unresolved, so I think it’s safe to say we have not seen the last of Stern.
In the meantime, Birkhead tells reporters he has stocked up on baby clothes and created a nursery in his one-bedroom townhouse in California, though he also revealed he is weighing a move with his daughter to his home state of Kentucky… reportedly he says to “get far away from the media spotlight.” (Good Luck Lary.)
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