Howard K. Stern, the lawyer and confidante to the late Anna Nicole Smith testified on Tuesday that he was unaware that the playmate’s son, Daniel, was taking prescription medication — including Methadone.

Stern gave his testimony today as part of the ongoing inquest into Daniel’s death. The 20-year-old died on Sept.r 10, 2006, three days after his mother gave birth to her daughter and his half sister, Dannielynn Hope, in the Bahamas.

Stern said that from September 2005 until June 2006, he wasn’t around as much because he was working on Anna’s fight with Pierce Marshall (the late son of her husband, J. Howard Marshall who died in 1995).

Stern also denied bringing a duffel bag full of medication into Anna’s hospital room in the Bahamas, where Daniel died. He said that neither he nor Anna brought any medication into the hospital and that he never, under any circumstances, gave Daniel Methadone. He also said that he never saw Anna give Daniel any drugs.

When asked what his reaction was to Daniel’s toxicology report, which showed Methadone and other prescription drugs in his system, Stern said he didn’t believe it.

Stern also discussed the famous photo that he took of Anna holding her dead son in the hospital room. Howard said Anna would not believe that Daniel had died and said that she wanted to bring him home with her. Stern testified that Anna asked him to take a photo because she couldn’t accept her son’s death and needed the picture for proof.

Stern also said that after he took the photo, he never made any money off of it and would do it again.

Stern said that Anna had a prescription for Methadone, but when she discovered that she was pregnant, she reduced her dosage, and was told by doctors that if she quit cold turkey, she would lose the baby.

By the time she gave birth, Stern says, she was off Methadone entirely.

WENN

Talk about moneygrubbing!!

A former companion of Anna Nicole Smith said Wednesday that her attorney-turned-boyfriend Howard K. Stern took several photographs of the collapsed body of her late 20-year-old son for profit.

G. Ben Thompson, a South Carolina developer, testified that Stern took about four pictures of Daniel Smith’s body after he died Sept. 10, 2006, while visiting his celebrity mother three days after she gave birth to her daughter in a Bahamian hospital.

Stern said the photographs “might be worth some money one day,” according to Thompson, who was embroiled in an ownership dispute with Stern over the Nassau mansion where he lived with Anna Nicole before her Feb. 8 death of a prescription drug overdose.

Now that’s just sick!

WENN

So who IS Dannielynn’s father!?  What do you think?  If Larry Birkhead is NOT the father, I’m going to be shocked.  Totally shocked!!  The moment we’ve all been waiting for will be announced at 11:30 PST/2:30 EST.  SO STAY TUNED…I’LL UPDATE HERE!!

UPDATE 12:07 PST: Larry, Howard and Virgie Arthur (Anna’s mother) are all in the courtroom - where the results are being revealed.  According to TMZ, Virgie is going to ask the judge for custody of Dannielynn even if Larry is the father.

UPDATE 12:7results to be released, the judge is going to have to lift the gag order. So let’s knock on wood that we find out today!

Anna Nicole Smith Paternity Case - A Bahamian court is expected to rule today in the paternity case of Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter. Under Bahamian legal rules however, the results cannot be made public by either of the parties involved in the paternity and custody battle.

They can however, be revealed. The judge in the case will have to lift the gag order in order to do so.

The people fighting over custody of the child — Larry Birkhead, Howard K. Stern and Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur — have all been ordered not to talk about the results after the ruling.

The child, Dannielynn Hope Marshall, could inherit millions from the estate of Anna Nicole Smith’s late husband, J. Howard Marshall.

Howard K. Stern will not stand in Larry Birkhead’s way if the DNA tests show Birkhead is Dannielynn’s father, this according to unimpeachable sources.

These sources have issued the following statement to TMZ:

“If Larry Birkhead is confirmed to be Dannielynn’s biological father, Howard will not challenge custody. His love for her will not change, irrespective of the results. Howard will act in Dannielynn’s best interest, because he loves her and would want a smooth transition to protect her, as she is deeply bonded to those who have been with her since birth.

Speculation that this is somehow about money for Howard is misguided and wrong. Howard has never made a TV or book deal even though he is the one who knew Anna Nicole best.

Howard wants Anna Nicole to be remembered as an icon like Marilyn Monroe, and he knows a lot of damage has been done to her image in the past two months. This restoration of Anna’s image is important for Dannielynn and the views she will have of her mother as she grows up. He also wants to make sure that only Dannielynn profits from Anna Nicole’s name, likeness and estate. As TMZ reported earlier, the money from Anna Nicole’s funeral went to a trust set up for Dannielynn. Howard set up the trust but he does not, and will not, receive any money from it and is not the trustee.”

TMZ has confirmed that DNA results will be revealed in court on Tuesday in the Bahamas. Stern and Birkhead will both be present. Arthur is also expected to be there.

Source

Anna Nicole Smith’s will has been revealed, and it leaves everything to her deceased son Daniel, CNN reports.

Smith’s companion, Howard K. Stern, is named as the executor of the estate. The will was written in 2001 and was not updated after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn Hope.

The document says that Smith’s estate should be held in trust for Daniel, who died last September. It’s not clear how the document will affect the ongoing custody and paternity battle over Smith’s baby girl.

A clause in the document, which states, “I have intentionally omitted to provide for my spouse, including any future spouses or children,” seems to exclude Dannielynn.

Analyzing the will, Lisa Bloom of Court TV, said on CNN that the dispersal of Smith’s assets will be the key issue, “because no one ever imagined that Daniel would pre-decease her.”

The document was signed by Vickie Lynn Marshall (Smith’s real name) and gives Stern full authority to take care of assets and property.

The will was released Friday after Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin directed attorneys to file a copy of it.

It does not say where Smith wished to be buried. There has been a bitter conflict between Stern and Smith’s estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, over where Smith’s remains should be buried. Stern maintains that Smith bought a plot in the Bahamas next to her son, Daniel. Arthur, on the other hand, wants Smith buried in a plot in the family’s home state of Texas.

The issue of where to bury Smith will be revisited on Tuesday when Stern has been ordered by Judge Seidlin to appear in person in a Florida courtroom to offer testimony in the case.

So far, Stern has not made an appearance in the Fort Lauderdale court where the fight for Smith’s body has been waged. His attorney, Krista Barth, had tried to have Stern testify from the Bahamas by phone, claiming he could not leave Danielynn.

However, in the ruling on Stern’s court appearance, Judge Seidlin was swayed by Arthur’s attorney, who pointed out that Stern and Smith had previously left the infant with a babysitter when they traveled to Florida to attend a boxing match and to buy a boat. It was during the latter trip, in fact, that on Feb. 8 Smith collapsed and died at a Seminole, Fla. hotel.

Seidlin also signed an order to have Smith’s refrigerated remains embalmed. That procedure should take place Friday – most likely under heavy security at the Broward County Medical Examiner’s office in nearby Dania Beach.

Source

Three days before she died, Anna Nicole Smith was planning a long stay in Dubai.

More precisely: Her attorney, lover and perhaps father of her baby, Howard K. Stern, was making plans to bring her to Dubai, a seaside city in the United Arab Emirates that serves as a hot spot for the rich and famous.

An insider who was in on the negotiations tells me: “Howard knew she was around drugs all the time and wanted to bring her to a place where there aren’t any. He really wanted to bring her here.”

The source says that Stern was concerned for Smith’s health and safety and reached out to the sultan of Brunei for help in getting her to Dubai.

When Smith’s death was announced, the people on the other end were in shock.

“We couldn’t believe it. We thought they were coming here. It’s very sad.”

For what it’s worth, the Brunei insiders — having had e-mail correspondence with Stern in the days leading up to Smith’s death — say the attorney is getting a raw deal in the press. “He’s a good man,” the source said. “He was trying to take care of her.”

Source

From ET:

The next time I was supposed to see HOWARD K. STERN was at his wedding to ANNA NICOLE SMITH in two weeks — a celebration. Instead, I find myself with him sharing one of the darkest moments of his life. On our flight from Florida — where Anna still lies in a cold medical examiner’s office — to the Bahamas, our thoughts are on Anna and little baby DANNIELYNN, who we are rushing to see for the first time since her mother’s sudden and shocking death on Thursday.

Howard, in tears, at times unable to speak, shares with me that Dannielynn is the light helping him go on. As the plane lifts above the clouds, Howard thinks of those his precious Anna Nicole left behind. In a voice barely heard above the din of the jet engines he tells me, “I want her friends to pray that Anna Nicole is safe, happy and with Daniel.”

It was hard to leave Anna’s body behind, but he had to get back to that baby girl. Others are already traveling to the Bahamas with an eye on Dannielynn. One of them is VIRGIE ARTHUR, Anna’s biological mother, who she detested. Anna told me in October, “She’s not my mother, she’s my birth mother.”

She is not a welcome guest. Howard begins to bristle at the mention of her name. He says, “As long as I have a breath in my body, that woman will not see Dannielynn.”

I ask about Virgie’s quest to assume custody of the five-month-old baby, who takes Howard’s last name on her birth certificate. He answers, not as an attorney, but as someone who cares deeply for Dannielynn. “She has no right. She can’t take Anna’s baby.”

After the plane touches down in the Bahamas, watching Howard hold Dannielynn for the first time since her mother’s death is heart-wrenching. With tears rolling down his face he reveals the depth of his pain: “I wouldn’t be here now, but I had to get back to Dannielynn. I held her in my arms and couldn’t believe her mom is gone. I know Anna loved her more than anything in the world.”

Driving with Howard through the gates of the home he shared with Anna Nicole, we shield the windows of the van from the world media who gathered for this story, and I realize that ET is telling this story from the inside out — Howard trusts us to share his world with you.

In the days ahead on Entertainment Tonight, you will see our conversation and journey unfold. This is a complicated man and an even more complicated story. From our flight, to the reunion with Dannielynn in the safe house — that only five people, including me, have seen — we’ll take you inside Howard K. Stern’s life right now without Anna Nicole Smith — who continues to capture, even in death, the attention of the world.

The Howard K. Stern exclusive begins airing Monday on Entertainment Tonight.

I don’t know how I feel about HKS talking about all this so soon…seems weird to me.