Dannielynn Birkhead

Dannielynn was born on September 7, 2006, in Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. Smith allowed a video camera inside the delivery room and later sold the footage and an exclusive interview to ‘Entertainment Tonight’ for a reported $1 million.

Dannielynn’s father, Larry Birkhead, was a native of Louisville, Kentucky and grew up alongside his twin brother, Lewis, older sister, Angela Heuser and half-sister, Judy Birkhead. After studying at Louisville's Doss High School, he enrolled at the University of Louisville, graduating in 1999. He met Smith in May 2004 at the Trish Barnstable Brown Gala, one of the major Louisville-area Kentucky Derby parties that still draw a celebrity crowd.

Their relationship was described by Birkhead as unpredictable and tumultuous. He said that he and Smith would often laugh watching the 1989 dark comedy ‘The War of the Roses’ together, noting how similar to their own relationship the film was. Asked why he stayed in such an atmosphere, Birkhood replied that he had packed his bags a couple of times to leave but Smith coaxed him not to every time.

During one of these arguments, she told him that she was pregnant with his child. He even asked her if she was sure about the paternity of the unborn child. She reaffirmed that he was undoubtedly the father.

Nearly six months into the pregnancy, Smith left Birkhead and the US after another fight between them and moved to the Bahamas. According to Birkhead, it was a calculated plan to keep him out of the child’s life. He also accused Smith’s attorney and friend Howard K. Stern of orchestrating the split.

Dannielynn grew up under constant media scrutiny. In 2008, after a lengthy trial, she was announced as the sole heir of Smith’s estate, valued at $800,000. When she was 16 months old, she was surgically treated for the strabismus in one of her eyes. As she had to wear an eye patch because of the procedure, her father wore one too, and they played pirates together.

She began modelling for Guess Kids after she turned six. Her mother had once worked for Guess as well. The co-founder of the company, Paul Marciano, remarked that “"Dannielynn has the same playful spirit that her mother had on a set.” After the campaign, their Spring 2013 line was introduced.

In a judgement passed in August 2014, federal court judge David O. Carter denied Dannielynn $44 million from the estate of the late E. Pierce Marshall, the son of J. Howard Marshall. While Birkhead thought that Dannielynn would get a significant amount of money in sanctions, Judge Carter found no evidence to rationalize awarding sanctions to her against Pierce Marshall's estate.

In 2014, Dannielynn attended the Kentucky Derby for the first time. It was a special occasion for her as her parents had met at the event back in 2004.