HSK - DNA shows Larry Birkhead is baby's dad

ENTERTAINMENT / Gossip






DNA shows Larry Birkhead is baby's dad

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-11 08:29





In this March 20, 2007 file picture, Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend
Larry Birkhead pumps his fist as he walks out of the Bahamian Supreme
Court after attending a hearing in the ongoing paternity case for the
late Anna Nicole Smith's six month old daughter Dannielyn, in Nassau,
Bahamas. [AP]

DNA tests prove it: Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's
million-dollar baby.

"I told you so!" the late Playboy Playmate's former boyfriend said
Tuesday upon emerging from a closed court hearing. He added: "My baby's
going to be coming home pretty soon."

Birkhead, a 34-year-old California photographer, then hugged his rival,
Howard K. Stern, who has been caring for baby Dannielynn since Smith's
sudden death in February.

The hearing was a pivotal moment in the battle over who gets custody of
the girl, who could inherit a fortune from the estate of Smith's late
husband, J. Howard Marshall II. Although Birkhead is the father, Stern's
name is on the birth certificate. Another custody hearing was scheduled
for Friday.

Stern, who was Smith's lawyer and later became her companion, said he
wouldn't fight for custody, but a lawyer for Smith's mother, Virgie
Arthur, indicated she might. The judge scheduled another hearing for
Friday in the pink colonial courthouse to discuss who will raise the
girl, who could inherit hundreds of millions of dollars.

Stern said he loved the baby despite the DNA results and would support
Birkhead.

"I'm obviously very disappointed, but my feelings for Dannielynn have not
changed," he said, adding of Birkhead: "I'm going to do whatever I can to
make sure he gets sole custody."

Birkhead had been fighting for custody of Dannielynn even before Smith's
death.

"Nothing's been determined except parentage and I'm the father," Birkhead
said. "It's been a long road and I'm just happy to have this behind me."

A crowd of about 250 people, many of them tourists, cheered from behind
police barricades when Birkhead, clutching a piece of paper, announced
the DNA test results. The court's DNA expert, Dr. Michael Baird,
confirmed it.

"Essentially, he's the biological father," Baird said.

This tropical capital has been transfixed by the Anna Nicole saga since
she moved here last year. Smith gave birth to Dannielynn in September,
only to see her 20-year-old son Daniel die days later at her bedside from
a lethal combination of drugs. Smith died in February at age 39 in
Florida.

Many in the crowd took pictures of the impromptu news conference with
cameras and cell phones. One man in the crowd wore a T-shirt emblazoned
with the handwritten message: "I'm the baby's daddy."

Arthur, who had been estranged from Smith for years, said she wanted to
be present in her granddaughter's life, but seemed appeased by the DNA
results.

"I'm happy that Dannielynn will know who her real father is," she said.

The baby, whose full name is Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, could
inherit millions from Marshall's estate. Smith, a former model, had been
fighting the Texas oil tycoon's family over his estimated $500 million
fortune since his death in 1995.

The question of who inherits Smith's estate remains unresolved. A 2001
will released after her death in February said her fortune should be held
in trust for her son, who died last year. The 19-page will named Stern as
her executor but did not say how much Smith was worth. It remains a
mystery how much her daughter might get.









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