The feuding mother, partner and former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith took a brief break from a courtroom battle over the Playboy model's corpse on Wednesday to get a private viewing of her rapidly decomposing body in a Florida morgue. The visitation came on the fifth day of hearings before south Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin, who has said he will decide | Smith was finally embalmed on Saturday, after a struggle to find a funeral home willing to sign a confidentiality agreement. But Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper said the corpse was decomposing quickly and would soon be unsuitable for a family viewing. |
The body of Smith -- famous in life for her abundant curves -- has lain in cold storage for nearly two weeks at the Broward Medical Examiner's Office since she died on February 8 at a Florida casino hotel of unexplained causes, aged 39. It was finally embalmed on Saturday, after a struggle to find a funeral home willing to sign a confidentiality agreement. But Seidlin got a call from Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper on Tuesday and again on Wednesday saying the corpse was decomposing quickly and would soon be unsuitable for a family viewing.
Arthur, Stern and Larry Birkhead, a former Smith boyfriend who claims to be the father of her 5-month-old daughter, were ferried in black sport utility vehicles from the court to the morgue for a viewing of the former Playboy centerfold model. Birkhead is due to testify in the case on behalf of Smith's mother, arguing for her burial in Texas. The hearings before Seidlin, who again on Wednesday swatted aside complaints from lawyers that the proceedings had become a circus, were dominated by accusations that all involved were trying to profit from Smith's corpse.