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Nearly two decades after Anna Nicole Smith’s death, her daughter is stepping into adulthood in her own way.
Dannielynn Birkhead, now 19, has largely grown up outside Hollywood’s spotlight under the care of her father, Larry Birkhead.
But recent public appearances — including a striking look at this year’s Kentucky Derby weekend — have renewed interest in Dannielynn carrying on her mother’s legacy, even as she has largely stayed out of the public eye for most of her life.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S LOOKALIKE DAUGHTER TURNS HEADS IN DRAMATIC NEW LOOK AT KENTUCKY DERBY AS STARS TAKE OVER
Dannielynn Birkhead and Larry Birkhead attend the 152nd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 2, 2026. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Churchill Downs)
Most recently, Dannielynn turned heads during Kentucky Derby weekend after debuting a dramatic goth-rock-inspired makeover alongside her father in Louisville, Kentucky.
On the day of the famous horse race, she wore a strapless black gown with oversized white floral designs and a black-and-white fascinator, while also rocking platinum blonde hair tipped in jet black.
The day before, she made an appearance at the exclusive Barnstable Brown Derby Eve party, in a dramatic transformation.
She sported a Gothic dress from Punk Rave — an embroidered, strapless corset gown with a sheer draped skirt.
Dannielynn Birkhead and Larry Birkhead attend the 152nd Kentucky Derby Barnstable Brown Gala at Barnstable-Brown Mansion in Louisville, Ky., on May 1, 2026. (Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images)
But while fans continue to marvel at how much she resembles her famous mother, Dannielynn’s story stretches far beyond fashion moments and Derby appearances.
Born Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter was born on Sept. 7, 2006, in Nassau, Bahamas.
At the time, Anna Nicole Smith publicly named attorney Howard K. Stern as her daughter’s father. Larry disagreed and pushed for DNA testing, setting off a public paternity dispute.
Anna Nicole Smith told her friend and lawyer Howard Stern that he could be her daughter’s father during the World Music Awards Distinctive Assets Gift Lounge event. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
The story then took a deeply tragic turn.
Three days after Dannielynn’s birth, Smith’s 20-year-old son, Daniel Wayne Smith, died from an accidental overdose while visiting his mother and newborn sister in the hospital. Months later, in February 2007, Anna Nicole Smith herself died at 39 from an accidental drug overdose, leaving her infant daughter at the center of yet another wave of public scrutiny — this time over custody.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S DAUGHTER HAS ‘FULL-CIRCLE’ MOMENT WEARING HER LATE MOM’S DRESS AT KENTUCKY DERBY
Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead arrive at Sydney International Airport in Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, during the 2005 MTV Australia Video Music Awards. (John Allman/WireImage)
In April 2007, DNA testing confirmed Larry Birkhead as the biological father.
“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I told you so,” Larry said at the time after a closed-door hearing. “My baby’s going to be coming home pretty soon. I’m the father.”
Soon after custody was granted to Larry, he moved his daughter to Kentucky and raised her away from the Hollywood spotlight.
Larry Birkhead and his daughter Dannielynn Birkhead attend the 141st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 2, 2015. The father-daughter duo have attended the event since she was three years old. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“And then it came to kind of people look for my daughter there because I really don’t let her do any public events,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “And, so, in all honesty, the Kentucky Derby is kind of the growth chart for Dannielynn.”
Outside those carefully chosen appearances, her life has been strikingly ordinary with school days, family routines and travel that looks more road trip than red carpet.
Dannielynn Birkhead and Larry Birkhead attend the 145th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 4, 2019. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Over the years, she and her father have built a shared world around music and low-key traditions — concerts, theme parks and trips.
They’ve seen Janet Jackson and Duran Duran together, moments Larry often documents.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH’S DAUGHTER DANNIELYNN BIRKHEAD STEPS OUT IN A BOLD RED GOWN AT KENTUCKY DERBY
On Father’s Day in 2023, he posted a photo of a Duran Duran concert with Dannielynn, joking he’d been “trying to school her on good music way back since she was a baby.”
In 2021, she joined Larry for an ABC “20/20” special that revisited Anna Nicole Smith’s life, including a trip to Mexia, Texas, her mother’s hometown. There, they met people who knew Smith before fame reshaped her identity entirely.
“When we talk about Anna Nicole, there were a lot of happy moments for her,” Larry said. “There were a lot of highs before there were a lot of lows.”
Meanwhile, Dannielynn has begun choosing her own connections to her mother’s story.
Dannielynn Birkhead honored her late mother, Anna Nicole Smith, by wearing her dress at a party before the Kentucky Derby in 2025. (Getty Images/Instagram)
At the 2025 Barnstable Brown Gala, she wore one of Anna Nicole Smith’s black gowns — an unmistakable piece of her mother’s history that Smith wore on the same event’s red carpet more than two decades earlier.
“She said she chose the dress because it was her mom’s and ‘super cool,’” Larry shared on social media at the time.
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That same event carries its own emotional weight — Larry first met Smith at the Barnstable Brown Gala in 2002.
What began as a chance encounter at a Derby weekend gathering has now become an annual tradition with their daughter.
Dannielynn Birkhead and Larry Birkhead attend the 148th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 7, 2022. (Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images)
“That’s where I met Anna Nicole Smith,” he previously told Fox News Digital. “And it’s something that I’ve taken my daughter back every year since.”
Outside of Kentucky Derby traditions, Dannielynn is an impressive scholar.
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Dannielynn Birkhead is pictured standing and smiling. (Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images)
In 2023, Larry praised his daughter for being an honor-roll student with an interest in forensics. She’s additionally navigating adulthood while carrying a legacy she didn’t ask for but has begun to interpret on her own terms.
On her 17th birthday, Larry wrote simply: “You are funny, crazy smart, pretty and just about everything I could ever imagine. Your mom would be so proud of you, I sure am.”