>>>
to wear chico's. what life is like now for
anna nicole smith
's
daughter
, danny loin. she is here, along with her father,
larry birkhead
. we'll talk to them in a moment, but first, here's
nbc
's
natalie morales
.
>>
dannielynn
was just five months old when her mother died setting off a heated custody battle. now more than three years later she is a happy toddler and her father is making plans for her future. at just 3 1/2 years old,
dannielynn
birkhead has been in the spotlight her entire life. the
daughter
of the late "playboy" model
anna nicole smith
,
dannielynn
was born into life exposed to drugs, death and
legal battles
that continue to this day. in
2007
,
anna nicole smith
died from an accidental
drug overdose
, just days after her giving birth to
dannielynn
.
anna nicole
's lawyer,
howard k. stern
, took the fight for custody of
dannielynn
to
court
and lost.
>>
when you compare
dannielynn
's life to a few years ago when her mother just died, there was this huge fight over the paternity and there is a big question of who the father was, you look at her life now, there is a lot of stability, a very strong father in larry and life seems to be pretty good for
dannielynn
right now.
>> reporter:
but in march, a
federal court
ruled
anna nicole
's
estate
is not entitled to $88 million left by smith's late
husband
, billionaire oil magnet
j. howard marshall
.
>>
the ruling essentially meant that
dannielynn
, who is the sole heir to
anna nicole smith
's
estate
would not get any
money
. we're talking a lot of
money
.
>> reporter:
now in an effort to
raise money
to support her,
dannielynn
's father,
larry birkhead
, is set to sell off some of the ex-model's memorabilia at an upcoming auction in
las vegas
. but the glare of the spotlight may return to
dannielynn
later this summer when stern, her mother's former attorney and two of the doctors who treated her, go on trial for charges of illegally supplying smith with the
prescription drugs
that killed her.
>>
this is going to be very dramatic and it is going to put
anna nicole smith
right back in the headlines.
>>
by the way, that trial is set to begin on
august 4th
in
los angeles
.
meredith
?
>>
natalie,
thank you very much
.
larry birkhead
is here along with his sleepy
daughter
,
dannielynn
. good morning to you. we mentioned before you were out last night seeing "
mary poppins
." she obviously had a good time and is sleeping in this morning. it's been over three years since
anna nicole
was found in that hotel in
florida
. you gained custody of
dannielynn
after a rather drawn out custody battle with her attorney,
howard k. stern
, sort of thrown into this role of being a single dad. what's this been like for you?
>>
it's been a wild ride but i'm settled and there's always drama, always headlines, there's always things that pop up,
anna nicole
and keeps the memory kind of fresh. it is kind of hard to move on. but we're happy and she's
happy baby
and -- tired but happy. we're moving
ahead
.
>>
what is
day to day
life like for you guys?
>>
she's like any other kid. except there is a lot of attention on her and we try to do the
play dates
like any other
family
. sometimes it is difficult, people pop cameras up and do things. but we have a
house
that i just finishing in kentucky. she'll start preschool soon. hopefully have a
quiet life
and as normal as she can. just be happy.
>>
she's going to start preschool soon which means she's going to start asking a lot of questions, if she hasn't already about her mom, where her mom is, what's happened. what have you told her about her mom?
>>
originally you try to be as child-friendly as you can. first i started with mommy's in the clouds, now we'll graduate to mommy's in heaven. she has these
play dates
where she sees other kids with moms, she sees
cartoon characters
with their mothers. she's curious. right now we just keep it as friendly as we can and i think down the road, with her starting
school
it is going to be a
little
more difficult. i think that's what i'll turn to some expert help to help me. i've never been in a situation obviously like this, of this magnitude. i just do the best i can with the knowledge i have and with support from
friends
and
family
. they try and help me.
>>
i was going to say, because
anna nicole
's life was at times extremely complicated and very troubled. those are things that are documented, that she at some point is going to see it or wonder about it, someone will say something to her.
>>
luckily she's not googling yet. she's just still a kid. there will be the time when she'll learn things about her mom. but, again, they're not all bad things. her mom was a great individual and she was -- she did a lot of things for charity. she was happy, she loved kids. even though she met a tragic death, she loved life and there were many things that -- happy things that i can tell her about her mom.
>>
over the course of the past three years, larry, you've been criticized from time to time for being on the
cover
of a lot of magazines, being on a lot of entertainment shows. especially in the beginning we saw a lot of you with your
daughter
. do you think you were unfairly criticized? do you
understand
where that came from?
>>
well, i guess everybody's going to be criticized for something. i don't think that -- think there was such a
soap opera
and there were so many people that were rooting for one person or another and there was a ton of interest. so to me, i tried to find a balance of allowing people's curiosity to be met, but also at the same time shielding her. i think i've done a great job. i don't see her nearly as much as you do other celebrity
children
. she's rarely anymore seen and that's one of the reasons why we traveled back to kentucky and kind of the
safe haven
where you don't have all of that. but, you know, i just realize you're going to get criticized for something at all times. i just do the best job i can do as a father.
>>
you also traveled to l.a. a lot because you're still dealing with the
estate
on a constant basis. that means you're dealing with
howard k. stern
who is the executor. now he is going to go to trial for -- accused of supplying the drugs that killed
anna nicole
. do you feel he should continue to be executor? is there anything you can do about that?
>>
well, at this point, the
estate
's
moving along
as needed, and at some point if there's any reason why he shouldn't be or -- you know, i think that he's been charged in the media as being
guilty
already. he think he and the doctors have their day in
court
. if it leads to something else other than not
guilty
, then i think at that time we have to address it. at this time we have a working
relationship
where he has been -- we had the paternity struggle, but then on the
estate
level and business, he actually has become a friend and at this time -- i don't think that he had anything to do with
anna nicole
's death. obviously. but --
>>
you don't.
>>
i don't. i think some of his interests in her might have clouded some of his judgment as far as the paternity battle being resolved and that whole issue. but i think as far as if anyone were to ever tell me he'd harm anna or daniel, that would be crazy. that basically was their life. and still is to this day, he's still working for the
estate
, still doing things. there is a lot of things in the headlines about the judgment and they're continuing that whole fight on to the
supreme court
as far as i know.
>>
you're standing by him, at least for the
time being
.
>>
well, you know, i've been a witness. i've cooperated with the authorities and i've told them everything that i know. their attempts to try to build a
time line
. if that were to lead to something down the road, then i'm open-minded as far as that goes. but at this point, i've seen nothing to the contrary that he would do anything to harm them.
>>
when we come back, we'll show you some of the
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