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HER LAST DAYS
Even before Smith touched down in Florida on Feb. 5, she appeared to be in poor health. According to Stern's sister Bonnie, Smith had been fighting an ongoing battle with pneumonia "for months" and also had the flu. In fact, she had developed such a high fever that "a day or two before [her death], they put her in an ice bath," says Bonnie. "Anna wouldn't let them take her to the hospital. She knew it would be all over the media."
That could explain why Smith's entourage in Florida included a private nurse as well as her usual bodyguard. After their arrival at the hotel, Smith stayed hidden in her two-bedroom suite while Stern tended to a recent purchase: a 40-ft. used yacht, which the couple had already christened The Cracker, perhaps a winking reference to Smith's modest roots in Mexia, Texas. "She liked the fact that there were two separate bedrooms and a forward deck to sunbathe," says Ned Bruck, general manager of Reel Deal Yachts in Miami Beach, whose company sold the couple the vessel and who puts the cost at less than $500,000. Stern was preparing for the boat's send-off to the Bahamas when he got the call on Feb. 8 that Smith was in serious trouble. "He had left [the hotel] two hours prior, and she was fine when he left," says Bonnie Stern. "She wasn't near death as far as he knew."
