Live Fast, Die Youngish

Anna Nicole Smith has completed her transition into a 21st century Marilyn Monroe by following the blonde icon to an early death.

The former reality star, Playboy playmate, ex-wife of a billionaire, diet pill spokeswoman and all-around public train wreck died today after collapsing in her suite at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, as apt a place for her death as any. No cause of death has been announced at this time, but blogs are rampant with the news that it was a drug overdose – the same way that her 20-year-old son went just a few months ago – and the same way her idol Marilyn went.

Like Marilyn she will never grow old in the pop culture pantheon. While she didn’t have the acting ability of Marilyn, Anna Nicole gained her fame through reality TV and became famous for being famous – two methods that are as legitimate these days as having actual talent.

Like Marilyn conspiracy theories are already swirling about her death. Anna Nicole was still fighting for her share of the late J. Howard Marshall’s estate, an 89-year-old oil billionaire she married when she was a 26-year-old stripper. A court ruling could hand the fortune to her five-month old daughter Dannielynn Hope, who has two men claiming to be the father. Smith’s mom has speculated that one of the men, Anna’s lawyer and companion Howard K. Stern may have contributed to the death of her son, putting him one step closer to getting the hands on the money himself.

Was she a tragic story? A gold digger? Was she pretty or did she just look that way? In any case it was a fittingly tabloid end for a woman who’s desire for money was only topped by her craving for attention.