But this was no ordinary pleasure cruise. Later that day a Baptist minister and some of the couple's close friends were ferried to a nearby island called Sandy Cay, where they met up with Smith, 38, and Stern, 37. After that the chartered catamaran set sail again, and the couple traded vows in a shipboard commitment ceremony, sealing their bond by literally taking a plunge into the ocean. Guests toasted them with champagne and apple cider before digging into some fresh Kentucky Fried Chicken, delivered by boat to the party. "It was fun and Anna was smiling," says John James, her friend, the former Dynasty actor. "Howard and Anna were both crying and kissing and holding hands. It was kind of sad and happy at the same time."
That pretty much sums up the last month of Smith's life. Just 21 days before her surprise high-seas ceremony—which was not legally binding—the model/actress gave birth to 6-lb. 9-oz. Dannielynn in the Bahamas; three days after that her son Daniel, 20, died mysteriously in her hospital room. Then on Sept. 26 came Stern's revelation on Larry King Live that he is not only Smith's lover but also Dannielynn's father—this despite claims by Los Angeles photographer Larry Birkhead that he is the father. So why add to the drama with what was, essentially, a mock wedding with no official marriage license? "They needed a little adrenaline boost because things have been so hectic and devastating in their life recently," explains Smith's Nassau attorney Michael Scott. "This was intended to be a lift to steel them for Daniel's funeral."
It was also a brief respite from the stream of disturbing news about Daniel's death. The results of toxicology and tissue tests performed by pathologist Cyril Wecht, hired by Smith to investigate her son's death, showed alarmingly high levels of the antidepressant Zoloft and the prescription painkiller methadone in Daniel's body. (He had also been taking the antidepressant Lexapro, for which he had a prescription.) "He had seven times the therapeutic dose for methadone, and seven times the therapeutic dose for Zoloft," says someone who has seen the test results. Wecht tells PEOPLE that "the combination of these three drugs killed him." But, he adds, "As for the manner of death, based on what I know, it was accidental."
Nassau police are conducting their own investigation, and a magistrate could still call for an inquest, which means an official finding could be weeks away. "They're concerned about the high levels" of drugs, says the source who has seen Wecht's results. "If it was just a drug interaction, they'd write it off as that and say there's no need to hold an inquest."
Daniel had been under treatment for depression and back pain, but according to medical information obtained by PEOPLE, his doctors did not consider him suicidal. Nor was there any indication from doctors or acquaintances that he was addicted to drugs or alcohol—which raises the question of where he obtained the methadone and Zoloft. According to someone with knowledge of the investigation, a nurse found a methadone pill in a plastic bag in Anna Nicole's hospital room not long after Daniel's death. Yet, while methadone is an increasingly popular painkiller (see box), "it is not a medication that we prescribe," says Hubert Minnis, the ob-gyn who delivered Smith's baby by C-section.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, photographer Larry Birkhead has questions he wants answered too. On Oct. 2 Birkhead filed a paternity suit claiming that he is Dannielynn's father; the suit asks that the child be given a drug test. "He wants to find out if [Dannielynn] has drugs in her system," says Birkhead's attorney Debra Opri. "He's very concerned about the presence of drugs in the home." Being in the Bahamas, however, protects Smith from having to respond to a suit filed in California, so long as she stays out of the state.
As Nassau police continued their probe, there were still no announced plans by press time for Daniel's funeral, and his body remains in a Nassau funeral home. Nor were there any plans for an official wedding; the couple "will do it where it's legal at some point," says Scott. For now, the symbolic ceremony has provided Smith and Stern with some much needed solace. "At one point, I asked Howard, 'Are you sure you want to do this?'" says James, 50, who executive-produced the upcoming movie Illegal Aliens, which stars Smith (her son Daniel was an associate producer). "And he said, 'She needs something now.' "
So while James's wife, Denise, took care of Dannielynn belowdecks of the catamaran, Smith had her hair set in rollers before slipping on a white veil. Then, at around 3 p.m., Stern, in a black dress suit and open white shirt, and Smith, holding a bouquet of red roses, exchanged vows and Bible verses—as well as temporary rings, because the real ones weren't yet ready. After the ceremony "we all cheered and Anna wanted to jump into the ocean," says James. "But there were sharks out there, so we sped back to [Sandy Cay], and then Anna and Howard jumped in. She got a little sore [in her C-section incision] from that."
Not your typical ceremony, perhaps. But since Daniel's death, says James, "this was the first time I had seen Anna come out of her grief for a moment."
- Contributors:
- Siobhan Morrissey/Nassau,
- Linda Trischitta/Nassau,
- Jeff Truesdell/Nassau,
- Nicole Weisensee Egan/Philadelphia,
- Johnny Dodd/Los Angeles.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
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