Star's son dies while visiting her in maternity hospital

Published on 12/09/2006 00:54

THE 20-year-old son of the model Anna Nicole Smith has died suddenly in a hospital room where the former Playboy star and actress was recuperating from the birth of a baby girl. Daniel Wayne Smith, who had appeared in two of his mother's films and in her television show, was visiting Smith in her hospital room when he died early on Sunday.

A statement on Smith's web-site said: "We have yet to learn the cause of death, but do not believe that drugs or alcohol were a factor. Anna Nicole is absolutely devastated by the loss of her son."

Smith, 38, gave birth to a girl at the hospital on Thursday.

She married a Texas oil tycoon, Howard Marshall, in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year. Since then, she has feuded with Marshall's son, Pierce Marshall, over her entitlement to the tycoon's estate.