by Rita Cosby
Fortunately, I was allowed to enter by the funeral official at the door, who said he knew I had been invited, as he overheard many discussions about it. He told me to enter the church and that we'd "figure it out inside." I didn't find out until later that Milstein and Howard K. Stern's attorneys had tried feverishly to remove my name, only to be overridden by the other parties who stated that the funeral should not be closed off to people they trust. I also later discovered that as part of the carefully negotiated funeral "deal," the various authorized parties agreed that two of them (of Howard, Virgie, and Larry) had to strike a name from the list in order for that person's invitation to be rescinded. Larry told me that Howard pleaded with him to strike my name, as Howard wanted Entertainment Tonight to have the "exclusive," but Larry insisted on keeping me on the list. And Virgie was not budging at all.
I waited in the back of the church, and from that vantage point immediately noticed the disparity in the size of the crowd on either side of the room. The pews on the right, Howard's side, were quite full, including where they placed Larry Birkhead, Richard Milstein, and their guests. Only a handful of people sat on the left, Virgie's side, which included Dr. Perper and two others, one of them my producer. Howard, as I discovered, had convinced Larry to relinquish 45 of his 50 allotted seats so that Howard could accommodate all his guests on one side. Howard had 95 seats; Larry had 5. It was supposed to have been 50/50.
"Anna would have wanted a huge funeral," Jackie Hatten said. "And she would have never wanted one in a foreign country where all her friends and fans couldn't go and where she didn't know anyone very well. She also would have wanted to be buried in an all-white casket with pink satin inside. . . . Why was there a brown casket and closed services if Howard was really doing what Anna wanted? If that was really the goal."
Peter Nygard agrees. "Anna would have wanted to lie in state," he told me. "She would have wanted people walking by that casket for days."
At the funeral I was privy to several interesting conversations, including learning that Dr. Perper told Dr. Khris Eroshevich, "What you told me was very useful" and thanking her for her cooperation in helping him reach his conclusions.
I was also thrust into making a decision that I never imagined. The funeral was supposed to begin, and Anna's mother Virgie was still nowhere to be found. Virgie's delay made the situation in the back of the church noticeably uncomfortable and tense. Howard wanted to start, and start now. His people were beginning to make a ruckus with the funeral directors. Patrik Simpson, one of Howard's most vocal defenders and friend, was loudly asking, "Where's the bitch? Where's that bitch? Let the funeral go on without the bitch," referring to Virgie who still had not shown up. I overheard people close to Howard celebrating Virgie's absence, going so far as to say how good Howard was going to look in the press, if Virgie missed her own daughter's funeral.
David Giancola, the director of Illegal Aliens, Anna's last film, told me, he was infuriated that Virgie made them sit in church and wait while Anna's body sat outside in a hearse. "Let's get her body and hijack it," he told several of Howard's friends.
Anna's friend designer Pol Atteu and others said that was a bad idea, responding, "It's surrounded by Bahamian police."
"Well," David Giancola said. "Anna wants to get buried."
Ron Rale, who officially broke the news with me on air that Anna had died, came over and asked me if I knew where Virgie was or if she was even coming. He said he had heard some buzz that Anna Nicole's mother was trying to stop the burial.
In fact, I knew where Virgie Arthur was. Virgie was at the Bahamian courthouse filing a last minute petition to put a stop to the burial. As her daughter's body lay inside a mahogany coffin in the back of a hearse parked in the hot Bahamian sun, Virgie and her attorneys were appealing to Justice Anita Allen to have Anna's body sent back to the United States.
I stalled Ron Rale with a few questions, and then told him what I knew and had already reported publicly on the air. He ran to the front right side of the church (Howard's side) where I watched him tell Howard the news as he sat in the front pew. Ron then returned to the back of the church and asked me questions about the filing. Seeing this as an opportunity to talk face to face with Howard, I smiled and said, "If Howard wants to know, why don't you have him come back here and talk to me himself." Ron walked to the front, whispered in Howard's ear, and Howard sauntered to the back of the church, wearing ribbons of black and pink on his lapel.
Meekly he asked, "When is she getting here? We can't keep holding this thing up." I said I didn't know, that I thought she was only a few minutes away. I truly did not know how long the hold up would be, but thought she was on her way. He then said in a huff, "We're going to set a deadline. We're not waiting." He turned to Ron Rale and gave a nod.
"Wheels up, boys," Ron Rale said to the funeral directors. "Let's get this show on the road."
One of the funeral directors then came over to me and whispered, "What do you think I should do? They want this to go on without her?"
"This is only going to happen once," I said. "It would be really sad if a mother missed her own daughter's funeral." He agreed and told me he was going to try to come up with some excuse to stall the increasingly loud clamoring from Howard and his people.
Once Virgie's courthouse pleas had fallen on deaf ears, she had gotten caught up in the traffic jam created by the highest-profile funeral the Bahamas has ever seen. When Virgie Arthur finally arrived at her daughter's funeral in a white stretch limousine, Patrik Simpson loudly announced to those of us standing in the back of the church, "The bitch is here!" But that was minor compared to what she herself heard outside.
The crowd greeted Virgie Arthur with a resounding and loud chorus of thumbs down jeers. Virgie told me later, "It was the worst feeling in the world." But she said she knew Anna would want her to fight to the bitter end. "I know my daughter was supporting me as I walked into the church, even though no one else was," she said. When she was greeted by hundreds and hundreds of people booing her, she said, "Every step my feet felt like they weighed fifty pounds. I kept saying to myself, 'there's not much further,' but it felt like a mile as I walked to that church."
She walked down the aisle and took her seat in the pew across the aisle from Howard, only a few feet in front of me. I had positioned myself on the aisle so that I could have a good view of all parties. The tension between the two sides of the church was palpable. Howard's crowd glared at her from across the aisle in utter disgust.
• • •
It had already been a long day for those traveling with Anna Nicole to her final resting place. Anna Nicole's body had been picked up at the Broward County Medical Examiner's office in Fort Lauderdale in the wee hours of the morning and driven to Miami International Airport, surrounded by a long line of cars and police protection. It was put on a private plane and flown to the Bahamas under the watchful eye of Dr. Joshua Perper and bodyguard Moe Brighthaupt, protecting her in death as he had tried to do in life. After they landed at the Million Air Airport in Nassau, a motorcade had transported Anna's casket to the Mount Horeb Church in a white hearse. It and Anna's body had been waiting for more than two hours for its cue, since it arrived early for the service, which ended up starting forty minutes late due to Virgie's last-ditch legal delay.
When the casket finally came into the church, it was a somber, powerful moment. It was carried down the aisle by Anna's pallbearers, which included Ron Rale, Moe, and two of Anna's other ex-bodyguards. She was placed in the front of the church beneath the giant cathedral ceiling and large stained glass window, which sunlight streamed through. Anna Nicole, surrounded by pink flowers and two large photos of herself, was wearing a tiara and a specially designed, beaded gown by Pol Atteu, who had designed more than a dozen gowns for her over the years, including the black dress and veil she had worn to bury Daniel only a few months before. But besides the casket's pink drape, Pol Atteu's work would today remain unseen inside the closed casket.
&
nbsp; Anna Nicole Smith's body was now three weeks into death.
• • •
Anna Nicole's funeral on March 2, 2007, at Mount Horeb Baptist Church was a mix of the religious with the "over-the-top." The Reverend Dr. Lloyd Smith opened the service: "We brought nothing into this world and we take nothing out. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."
The congregation, all wearing pink and black ribbons, numbered barely more than a hundred, including TrimSpa CEO Alex Goen, ex-assistant Kim Walther, and Slash from Guns N' Roses, who told me after the service that he met Anna at an event years before. Noticeably absent were Shane Gibson, the former Immigration Minister who resigned after the scandalous photos of him and Anna hit the front page of the local newspaper, and Dannielynn.
Before the funeral, Larry Birkhead told Howard repeatedly on the phone that he did not want the baby there. According to Mark Speer, Larry's security detail, "Larry was worried Howard would pass the baby to him" and get a photo taken. Then, he'd "sell it and make big money." Since no one had a photo yet of Larry and the baby together, Larry figured, "Howard will make another million if he gets the first shot of me and my baby. That's worth at least one million dollars right away, and probably another million more until she's eighteen." Then, he spoke like a true paparazzi: "That's my shot."
Anna's dead husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall, made an unannounced appearance at the funeral. Half of Marshall's ashes had been awarded to Anna during her legal battle for his estate. After his sometimes "guest starring" role in the urn on the Anna Nicole Show, for the funeral he was carried in his urn by Moe and would later be placed in the coffin beside Vickie Lynn Marshall, his wife.
As former Bahamian senator Ruby Ann Darling played the organ, the congregation joined in the song, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," followed by "Amazing Grace." After the minister's scripture reading, Virgie spoke first. Days earlier, both she and Larry Birkhead had individually asked me if I thought that they should speak at all and, if they did, my thoughts on what they should say. I told them both to speak from the heart and perhaps about the great things they deeply felt about Anna and their special memories. When they stood behind the pulpit, they both eloquently and emotionally discussed their relationship with Anna as well as her relationship with everyone in the room. Virgie sobbed through most of her eulogy.
"I was there when God gave you to me," Virgie began her eulogy. "You were a beautiful baby, you were so loved. . . . We all loved you and have so many stories to tell about you."
As she wiped tears away, the mother who had not physically seen her daughter in over a decade continued, "We watched you grow into a beautiful woman and we watched you stumble a few times—but you always got back up and carried on. . . . So headstrong, you accomplished all of the wonderful dreams that you wanted."
Anna's mother ended her memorial speech with, "We love you and know that you loved us. Goodbye, my baby daughter." She softly touched the casket and wept.
Larry Birkhead focused on Anna's small-town side—one not as apparent to the public. "Anna Nicole could often be misunderstood," he said. "Misunderstood on what she wanted from life and what she needed. If Anna Nicole was guilty of one thing, it was that she wanted each and every one of us to feel like we were the most important in her world and number one."
Birkhead, obviously emotional, noted the humble side of Anna by describing a scenario where she took little hotel ketchup packets and put them into her suitcase. He said they represented security, "a security for Anna Nicole in a world that often seemed uncertain."
Larry and Virgie did not focus on any of the legal fights. They stayed positive and focused on Anna. Larry ended his eulogy with the line he used to say to her every night before she went to bed: "Good night, sweet Anna baby." After he sat back in the pew, he broke down and sobbed.
Country singer Joe Nichols sang two songs during the service. Anna met Joe Nichols at the Grand Ole Opry in 2005 and had become a big fan of his music. Howard had requested he sing, "I'll Wait for You" and Dolly Parton's "Wings of a Dove," which is said to have been Anna's favorite country song.
After Nichols finished this emotional and hopeful song, Howard K. Stern got up and unexpectedly used the pulpit like a lawyer in a courtroom, delivering an impassioned closing argument more than a sentimental eulogy.
"The truth . . . there's only one truth," he began. "And it's not what people say in court, even if those people are your blood relatives." He spoke the words glaring directly at Virgie Arthur. "It's not what people who claim to be your friends say to the media. . . . The truth is . . . what you touch, what you feel, what you see with your own eyes, what you observe for yourself. I know the truth about Anna. . . . She controlled her life . . . and her judgment wasn't clouded by anything.
"I can't believe that you're gone and you're not here to protect anyone," he said. "Sometimes I don't know how I'm gonna go on, but I know that my work isn't done. I still have to protect you, I have to protect your wishes, I have to protect your name, and most of all I have to protect Dannielynn, and I promise you, as long as I'm still breathing, I will, no matter who comes at me.
"You and I, we know the truth. We lived it."
When he finished, the right side of the congregation broke into raucous applause and gave him a standing ovation. The left side was stunned. Howard gently kissed Anna's casket and took his seat.
Director David Giancola was one of the first to stand up and applaud after Howard spoke. "I knew Anna didn't like her mom," David told me. "There was so much rage for her mom after Daniel's death because of what Virgie said on TV. I remember the Reverend asked the crowd, 'Where's the humanity here? What's wrong with you?'
"When Howard spoke, he said everything I felt too at that moment," Giancola said. "It was spontaneous and emotional and I hated her too."
• • •
Howard also clearly hated Debra Opri, his adversary in the paternity litigation. She was someone he knew he couldn't win over. She wasn't willing to cut any backdoor deals. And Larry knew of Howard's disdain for Opri, which is perhaps why, at the reception after the funeral, an unusual conversation took place.
The post funeral reception was held at a multi-million dollar home in the Ocean Club Estates, an exclusive gated community in the most luxurius part of Nassau. The house was filled with hundreds of guests who mingled both inside and outside the spacious home and grounds.
A most unusual conversation was overheard at this party by Larry's security detail, Mark Speer, shortly before my arrival at the event. Mark Speer noted that Howard and Larry gave each other a big hug, and Larry apologized to Howard for bringing Debra Opri to the funeral, even though Howard had for days been trying to convince him not to let her go. Opri had insisted, saying "I'm not going to let you be there by yourself, especially with Howard."
Larry told Howard, "I'm sorry I had to bring her. It just wouldn't look right if I didn't have anybody there."
Howard responded, "I understand, we'll get past it."
And then, in a remark that didn't sit well with Mark Speer, Howard told Larry "We'll take care of Debra later."
I arrived at the reception late, after I finished my reports about the funeral and ran the taped interview I conducted after the service with Larry Birkhead. I found out later that Larry and his attorney Debra Opri had left shortly before my arrival when they heard Howard's attorney, Krista Barth, was about to arrive. They didn't want any drama, and knew that Krista Barth's presence was sure to cause problems for them.
I had said on-air that Howard's eulogy was "surprising," and that "it was a very strange, sort of surreal moment" that many felt was inappropriate. Krista Barth did not like to hear any even partially negative comments about Howard and she was on the attack. Soon after I arrived at the reception, she sought me out. Even though I was personally invited by the owner of the home, she tried to get Bahamian police to remove me from the premises, which fell on deaf ears. When that failed, Ron Rale and I went to talk in a private room and
were soon joined by Krista Barth and my producer. We had a very frank discussion in which Barth told me she thought it was inappropriate the way I had described on television "Howard's loving, tender, heartfelt eulogy."
I was stunned that she used those words to describe his angry tirade, and I told her that others had had the same sentiments of his words as I did. I also personally felt that my comments were quite "diplomatic." I told her my job was "to present what I saw, not to do P.R. for Howard K. Stern." I reminded her that I had done some favorable stories about Howard recently and that my responsibility was to present the facts.
"How'd you even get to go to the funeral anyway?" she demanded. "I wasn't even going to the funeral."
"I was invited," I laughed. "You should get better connections."
She didn't think that was funny. "I can't believe you'd go as a guest of Virgie's," she countered. "Yuck! We hate Virgie. She's the enemy."
I explained if Howard had invited me I'd have gone as his guest too, that any journalist would have seized the opportunity to be inside that church. She then asked me, how I had gotten into this party. "Howard didn't invite you." When I told her I had been invited by the actual owner of the house, she seemed surprised, but said, "Well, it's Howard's party, so maybe you should leave."