THE US: In the Los Angeles court witness box the former Playboy centrefold Ms Anna Nicole Smith was asked how she could have confused the value of a $4,800 ring as $48,000. "I'm not too good on zeros," she replied. Yesterday a delighted Ms Smith heard that the $88 million she has just won from her stepson has no less than six zeros.
Judge David O. Carter made the award, half damages for emotional distress and half her share in her late husband's estate, finding that though his millions were a "central facet" in their relationship there was also love.
When he died just 14 months after their wedding, billionaire Houston oilman J. Howard Marshall was 91, his bride 28. She claimed they were genuinely in love and that J. Howard had promised her half his fortune. But the evil stepson such plots always require, Mr Pierce Marshall, who refers to his stepmom as "Miss Cleavage", insists the former stripper is a golddigger who manipulated his father.
"Their lives were intertwined in need, driven by greed and lust.Nevertheless, the court is convinced of his love for her. J. Howard referred to \ as the 'light of my life' and the lady \ saved his life," Judge Carter wrote in his opinion. "The court is more cautious about her love for him . . . "
But he agreed with Ms Smith that the stepson had behaved disgracefully in trying to deprive her of any legacy. "The evidence of wilfulness, maliciousness, and fraud is overwhelming," Judge Carter wrote.
Ms Smith now lives in Los Angeles where she has been supporting herself in part by modelling plus-size lingerie.