Anna Nicole Smith: The life and opera of a sex symbol of the 90s

A girl from a simple American family, a stripper, a Playboy model, a cover girl, the wife of an elderly oil magnate, a model, an actress, a mother. All this is ambiguous Anna Nicole Smith.

13 years ago, on February 8, 2007, at the age of 39, Anna Nicole Smith died due to an overdose of analgesics and antidepressants, as well as an extremely neglected form of pneumonia.

About the life of the late Playboy star Anna Nicole Smith, an opera was written and staged by one of the creators of the musical "Jerry Springer: Opera". Richard Thomas and composer Marc-Anthony Tournage wrote the opera, which premiered at the Royal Opera House in London on February 17, 2011. Richard Thomas says the tragic life story of Miss Smith—a former stripper who died of an overdose—was "a classic American celebrity story." (AP)

She was born under the name Vicki Lynn Hogan on November 28, 1967 in Mecca, Texas. Their father abandoned them. Her mother worked as a deputy sheriff. One day she knocked her daughter to the floor, handcuffed her and put her under arrest for drunk driving. (AP)

After dropping out of school, Vicki Lynn worked for a while as a waitress in a fast food restaurant. She was briefly married to chef Billy Wayne Smith, with whom she gave birth to a son Daniel at the age of 18. After moving to Houston, a modest, "flat-chested" girl got a job as a cashier at a Wal-Mart supermarket, and then started working as a waitress again. Then she dyed her hair blonde, pumped herself up with silicone and announced that she would become "the next Marilyn Monroe." (Dave Lewis / Rex Features)

In 1991, a penniless 22-year-old girl got a job as a stripper in a nightclub in Houston, where she noticed J. Howard Marshall II is a Yale graduate, a wheelchair—bound oil magnate, almost four times her age. He had a capital of $ 1.4 billion and, as his son said, "a strong craving for big breasts." (Sipa / Rex Features)

J. Howard spared no money on his new girlfriend, buying her Mercedes, designer clothes and diamonds. When she said that she wanted to enlarge her breasts to a huge size of 44DD, he gladly paid for it. (Randy Bauer / Rex Features)

When they were dating, Marshall flew with her to New York, where she spent two million dollars on jewelry, paying with his platinum American Express card. By the end of his life, Marshall had spent $6 million on her — $4 million on jewelry, and the rest on real estate, cars, furs, etc. Her marriage to Marshall lasted only 403 days and ended with his death in August 1995, when the tycoon died of a heart attack at the age of 89. (Mitchell Gerber/CORBIS)

Anna Nicole's breasts did not leave Playboy magazine indifferent. She got on the cover of the March issue in 1992 and posed nude for the May issue spread. (ITV / Rex Features)

In June 1993, Anna Nicole Smith was named "Mistress of the Year" by Playboy magazine. (StarTraks / Rex Features)

Such glamorous photo shoots led her to shoot in the films "Hudsaker's Henchman" and "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Last Lunge" (both in 1994). Her roles were blown to smithereens by critics. (SGoldwyn/Everett / Rex Feature)

Anna Nicole launched into litigation after her husband's death in the struggle for his fortune. The case "Marshall v. Marshall" quickly turned into a dispute over Marshall's inheritance, during which new photos of Anna Nicole appeared on American television every day, arguing in court, clutching a photo of her husband to her chest. She tried to sue part of the inheritance from his son Everett Pierce Marshall. (AP)

In the period between 2002 and 2004, the blonde who became famous starred in her own reality show, The Anna Nicole Smith Show. These were chronicles of her life with a share of anarchic vulgarity. The state of J. Howard remained out of her reach. The pernicious role was played by the constant lawsuits, the attention of the press and the drugs to which she was addicted. (Everett Collection / Rex Feature`)

This was followed by small roles in films. In 2005, she appeared as herself in the movie "Be Cool" with John Travolta and Uma Thurman. Pictured: Smith at the Lakers matchup with Danny De Vito is on the set of a commercial for the film. Her appearance in public became ambiguous: on an Australian TV show in 2005, she took off her dress, exposing her breasts with MTV logos, and earlier on one of the radio shows on the air, she offered the host to take off her panties. (TI / KEYSTONE USA / Rex Features)

On November 14, 2004, Anna Nicole Smith is escorted by security from the press conference hall at the 32nd Annual American Music Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. (GETTY)

Anna Nicole Smith accepts an award in the form of a huge bra at the VH1 Big ceremony in Los Angeles in 2004. (GETTY)

Her 20-year-old son Daniel passed away in 2006 in her room, just a few days after she gave birth to her daughter. The medical examination found methadone and two antidepressants in his body. Together, these three drugs caused cardiac arrest. (Startraks Photo / Rex Features)

18 days later, she married lawyer Howard K. Stern is the father of her daughter. (GETTY)

Anna Nicole Smith and attorney Howard Stern at the Washington Supreme Court in February 2006. The U.S. Supreme Court has approved her right to challenge the case of her share in Marshall's multimillion-dollar inheritance in federal court. (Sipa Press / Rex Features)

Police officers at the hospital where Anna Nicole Smith was taken, February 8, 2007 in Hollywood. Smith fainted at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino complex. She died before she could be taken to the hospital. (GETTY)

Locals at the grave of Anna Nicole Smith in Nassau in the Bahamas on March 2, 2007. A former Playboy model and billionaire wife has been buried in the Bahamas after three weeks of legal proceedings over her body. (AFP/GETTY)

Police Chief Charlie Tiger announces the results of the autopsy of the body of Anna Nicole Smith in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Medical examiner Joshua Perper concluded that Nicole Smith died of an overdose — traces of nine drugs were found in her blood. (GETTY)

After a closed paternity hearing in Nassau in April 2007, DNA testing revealed that the biological father of Smith's daughter Dannylynn was her ex-boyfriend, photographer Larry Birkhead. Several people claimed Smith's daughter, including Birkhead, Howard Stern, and husband Za Za Gabor of Prince Fredrik von Anhalt. (N01/Keystone USA / Rex Features)

Howard Stern and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor at the police station on March 12, 2009. Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer and lover Howard Stern and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor were arrested on charges of conspiracy to drug Anna Nicole Smith. (Whittier Police Department via Getty Images)

Howard K. Stern leaves the courthouse in Los Angeles on January 6, 2011 after he was accused of introducing narcotic substances into the body of Anna Nicole Smith by deception. (GETTY)

Conductor Antonio Pappano and composer Maar-Anthony Tournage at the Royal Opera House. Since most of the characters in the production are based on real people, the authors of the project and lawyers had to work hard to avoid possible litigation. "This is an opera, not a documentary,— Thomas says. — As soon as you project some personality onto the opera stage and add music, you sort of turn them into a myth." "We did not set ourselves the goal of giving her a "dressing down," the composer adds. — Let many people think that we are making fun of her, but in fact we want to show people that she spent her childhood in poverty and her life was not sugar." (RII SCHROER)