Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead welcomed their daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, in 2006 — less than a year before the model’s death
Credit: Stephen J. Cohen/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead welcomed their daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, in September 2006
- Smith died five months after Dannielynn was born
- Birkhead often shares his life with Dannielynn on social media
Dannielynn Birkhead is now an adult, but she and her father, Larry Birkhead, are still as close as they’ve ever been.
Dannielynn’s supermodel mother, Anna Nicole Smith, died from an accidental drug overdose in 2007, just five months after Dannielynn was born in September 2006. At the time of Dannielynn’s birth, Smith claimed that Dannielynn’s father was Howard K. Stern, the Playboy model’s attorney and romantic partner. However, a court battle to establish paternity determined that Birkhead was Dannielynn’s biological father. Birkhead was then awarded custody of Dannielynn.
Ever since, the father-daughter duo has traveled everywhere from Dollywood to Hawaii with, of course, annual stops in Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. Along the way, the father and daughter have documented their adventures on their shared Instagram account
On Dannielynn’s 20th birthday in September 2026, Birkhead paid tribute to his daughter on Instagram. showing off a major hair transformation for Dannielynn at the same time.
“Happy 20th Birthday Dannielynn!” he wrote. “❤️ Love, Dad ❤️.”
Here’s everything to know about Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead’s daughter Dannielynn and how she’s staying connected to her mother’s legacy.
She was born in the Bahamas in 2006
Credit: Denise Truscello/WireImage
Dannielynn was born Sept. 7, 2006, in Nassau, Bahamas, as Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern. Smith initially said that Stern was the father of her daughter, but Birkhead contested that claim and demanded a DNA test.
Smith died on Feb. 8, 2007, of an accidental drug overdose at age 39. In April 2007, a DNA test confirmed that Birkhead was Dannielynn’s biological father. “I’m the father,” he said. “Thank you for your support. Thank you for the people who got me this far. Thank you very much. My baby’s gonna be coming home pretty soon. Things are moving quickly here, and we’ll see what happens.”
When the results came in, Stern was cooperative, hugging Birkhead outside the courthouse. “We’re gonna do what we can to make sure that the best interests of Dannielynn are carried out,” Stern said. “And I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure that he gets sole custody. Larry can come over to the house and spend as much time with [Dannielynn] as he wants to right now.”
Through her mother, Dannielynn also had one brother named Daniel Wayne Smith. Three days after Dannielynn was born, 20-year-old Daniel died in Smith’s hospital room of an accidental drug overdose. He had arrived that same day to visit his mother and meet his newborn sister.
She stays connected to her late mother
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In February 2021, Birkhead and Dannielynn appeared in a 20/20 special, in which they traveled to Smith’s hometown of Mexia, Texas. “When we talk about Anna Nicole, there were a lot of happy moments for her,” Birkhead said. “There were a lot of highs before there were a lot of lows.”
The special aired on the 14th anniversary of Smith’s death. Dannielynn met her mother’s childhood friends, who shared memories of the supermodel before she was famous, and Birkhead gave her some of Smith’s belongings, including the wedding dress she wore to marry J. Howard Marshall II in 1994.
“Anna should be remembered as this larger than life figure that was really a caring, giving person,” Birkhead said. “A beautiful lady who loved her fans and loved her family.”
Her dad says Dannielynn reminds him of Smith
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“Today, I remember your heart, your soul and your beauty, both inside and out,” Birkhead wrote on the 15th anniversary of Smith’s death. “Your love is alive still to this day, in the form of a truly one of a kind teenager with her Mom’s smile, beauty and courage.”
Birkhead and Smith’s relationship was the subject of an episode of Lifetime’s Hopelessly in Love in 2020.
“She inspired a lot of people. I think she changed a lot of lives,” Birkhead said of Smith on 20/20. “That’s why I think, to this day, there’s still a fascination about Anna Nicole, and I think there will be for a long time.”
She and her father spend lots of quality time together
Credit: Instagram/larryanddannielynn
Birkhead and Dannielynn make regular appearances at the Kentucky Derby — where Birkhead and Smith first met. They always attend the Barnstable Brown Gala the night before the race. At the 2022 gala, Dannielynn wore an outfit purchased at a charity auction that Janet Jackson wore to the same event in 2003.
The pair are huge Jackson fans and attended Jackson’s concert after the derby and in Cincinnati in July 2022. “Heading out to Dannielynn’s second Janet Jackson concert (my millionth 😂) in Cincinnati as we sit here arguing which one of us is the bigger Janet fan,” Birkhead posted on Instagram. “It’s going to be ‘Nasty’ outside in the 100 degrees weather, but we are looking forward to it.” After the show, they got to meet the iconic singer.
The father-daughter duo are also big Duran Duran fans, as they spent Father’s Day 2023 at one of their concerts.
Birkhead shared a photo on Instagram of the two smiling at the venue as well as a throwback photo of the pair sharing a set of earbuds. “Having a great Father’s Day with Dannielynn at the @duranduran concert,” the proud dad wrote in the caption. “I’ve been trying to school her on good music way back since she was a baby.”
Birkhead saved Smith’s clothes for her
Birkhead put all of Smith’s clothing in storage after she died — anticipating that Dannielynn would eventually want to wear items from her mom’s wardrobe.
While chatting with PEOPLE in May 2023, Birkhead revealed that Dannielynn has already pulled a few items from the archive.
“There’s some T-shirts and different things she fits in, but there’s also some things that she’ll say, ‘Dad, no thanks, that’s not my style,’ “ he said. “There’s also some things that would have to wait till later. Some things are a bit more revealing and low-cut.”
She and Birkhead attend the Kentucky Derby every year
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Dannielynn and Birkhead never miss the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The Barnstable Brown Gala was where Smith and Birkhead first met in 2003.
“It’s funny how one event can change your life. And that’s what this party did for me. If I had not been there that night and had that connection, how different my life would have been if I hadn’t met Anna and had our daughter,” he told PEOPLE.
For their 2026 outing at the event, Dannielynn debuted a new style, this time dressing in a “goth rock theme.”
“So we’ve got this total style change up for her,” Birkhead told PEOPLE at the time. “And this is kind of, I think, her coming into her own, doing her own thing and kind of exuding her own style and, and her choices that she made.”
She is studying forensic science
Danielynn is now in college, where she is studying forensics, though she has other interests she wants to pursue academically, too.
“I’m majoring in forensic science,” she told PEOPLE in May 2026. “I might double major, possibly, in something regarding culinary, because I love baking,” she added. “I don’t know.”
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