When Vicky Lynn Hogan was born on November 28, 1967 to Donald Eugene Hogan and Virgie Mae Tabers in the Texas city of Houston, few could have expected that the baby would grow up to become one of the biggest models in the 1990s. However, Hogan or Anna Nicole Smith as she is most commonly known as managed to beat the odds and ascend to the highest levels in the modeling world. Still, at an early age it didn’t look good for the blonde bombshell.

 

Anna Nicole Smith grew up in a broken home and was raised by her mother and her maternal aunt. She would drop out of school at grade nine and married a cook at the tender age of 16. With her lack of a high school degree, it didn’t seem like Smith was destined to a particularly great life. She worked as a waitress at Jim’s Krispy Fried Chicken, had a stint working at Wal-Mart, and eventually worked as an exotic dancer at a Houston nightclub. In the last few years of her life, Smith was a walking punch line. Her public image was in tatters due to her decision to marry 89 year old oil tycoon, J. Howard Marshall, and Smith could not dodge accusations of being a gold digger. The last year of Smith’s life was particularly turbulent. Besides having to go through a rollercoaster of emotions within three days after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn, and the death of her son, Daniel, Smith couldn’t keep herself out of the tabloids. An extraordinarily public squabble came up with several people claiming to be the father of Dannielynn. Her behavior was erratic and few people were shocked when Smith was found dead in her hotel room on February 8, 2007.

 

To find out more about the extravagant life of Anna Nicole Smith, be sure to read our article Anna Nicole Smith Exposed. These tragedies, however bookended a period of time where Anna Nicole Smith was a rising star. This unlikely celebrity can give her thanks to her life changing to a uniquely American institution – Playboy. One of the most unique facets of American culture is its love of beautiful women, particularly voluptuous blonde women. From Marilyn Monroe to Jayne Mansfield to Pamela Anderson to Jenny McCarthy, women who fill the niche of a Barbie figure have managed to rise out of obscurity and steal America’s hearts, at least for a little while.

 

Like many of these aforementioned celebrities, Anna Nicole Smith found that opportunities were waiting for her. The thing was that she needed to show off her goods at a respected institution such as Playboy Magazine. Playboy Magazine was started by Hugh Hefner and designed as the classy pornographic magazine. Respected actresses have appeared nude as the Playboy centerfold and Anna Nicole Smith soon found that images of anna nicole smith nude and anna nicole smith naked were just the things that would jumpstart her career. Much like Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith was plucked out of obscurity after Hugh Hefner personally chose her to grace the cover of Playboy. It’s a bit strange to think about how much Playboy can elevate a starlet’s career. One of the most appealing things about posing nude in Playboy is that they tend to a respectable job in making sure its models look as great as they can. Unlike other somewhat pornographic magazines, Playboy has designated itself as a sophisticated magazine that memorializes women as classy and beautiful. Many actresses have found that posing in Playboy has opened doors for meatier roles. Additionally, athletes, musicians, and other starlets have graced the cover of Playboy in an attempt to commemorate a time in their lives where they looked unbelievably good.

 

At the time that Anna Nicole Smith Playboy cover issue came out on newsstands in 1992, American culture was undergoing a startling transformation. While many people forget about this, there was a different standard of female beauty in the early parts of the 1990s. While the music phenomenon known as grunge would usher in a period within the modeling world that is known as heroin chic, in 1992, grunge music was still battling 1980s metal as the trendsetter of American culture. 1980s bands such as Guns n Roses, Poison, and Motely Crue sang about and lived the rock and roll lifestyle to the fullest. Unlike bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam that would supplant these acts in popularity, these 1980s heavy metal acts sang about living a carefree life and partying to the fullest. Their music videos were filled with voluptuous women that had little problem with being shown washing a car in a bikini. It was in this cultural mood that Anna Nicole Smith’s modeling career took off. Noting the strong resemblance to past American icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Hugh Hefner and Playboy Magazine showcased Anna Nicole Smith Naked in glamorous poses that echoed those starlets. Her popularity in Playboy eventually led to further Playboy pictorials. Eventually, Anna Nicole Smith was honored as Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1993. It turned out that people just couldn’t get enough of looking at pictures of Anna Nicole Smith Naked. While many women are happy enough with landing on the cover of Playboy Magazine, Anna Nicole Smith quickly realized the great opportunity that she had. Very few models could match the voluptuous looks that she had in spades and she managed to land some lucrative modeling contracts. Noticing the demand for the Barbie-ish All American girl looks that Anna Nicole Smith had, trendsetting fashion company, Guess Jeans chose Smith as its feature model for 1993. These Guess Jeans ads were particularly notable due to the fact that Smith had replaced supermodel Claudia Schiffer as the Guess model. Other companies soon noticed the popularity of Anna Nicole Smith as a model.

 

The Swedish clothing company H&M decided that Anna Nicole Smith was the perfect person to represent them. She soon graced the billboards in countries like Sweden and Norway that were so hot that it became subjects of public debate. At the time, it seemed like Anna Nicole Smith could do no wrong. However, models typically have short careers due to the rigorous demands of the industry and the simple realities of aging. For that reason Anna Nicole Smith decided to make small forays into the world of acting. This decision would turn out to be an excellent one and you can learn more about Smith’s acting exploits by checking out the article, The Anna Nicole Smith Show.