Return to Transcripts main page
Showbiz Tonight
Shocking Words From a former NBA Star Who Says He Hates Gay People; Continuing Coverage of the Death of Anna Nicole Smith
Aired February 15, 2007 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: Shocking words from a former NBA star who says he hates gay people. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
BROOKE ANDERSON, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: And an 18 year old model dies. Could she be the latest one to fall victim to anorexia? I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.
HAMMER: On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, a dramatic, rowdy court showdown in the emotional battle over Anna Nicole Smith`s body. Tonight, the body, the battle over her baby daughter. Absolutely shocking claims that Anna Nicole may have intentionally under-fed her. Is Dannielynn in danger? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with the latest remarkable twists and turns in the Anna Nicole saga.
Here comes the loose cannon. Danny Bonaduce is right here, speaking out on the harsh lessons learned from the Anna Nicole tragedy, tonight in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
ANDERSON: Hi there everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Tonight, we unravel the mystery behind Anna Nicole Smith`s money.
Plus, Danny Bonaduce unplugged on the lessons to be learned from the Anna Nicole tragedy.
HAMMER: That`s all coming up. But first we begin tonight with a disturbing question, is Anna Nicole Smith`s baby daughter in danger? And what`s going to happen to little Dannielynn? The little girl became the focus of an emotional and sometimes rowdy court hearing in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida today. An unbelievable battle over who is going to get possession of the remains of Anna Nicole, who remains unburied exactly one week after her shocking death.
SHOWBIZ TONIGHT taking you inside the story and inside the courtroom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUDGE LARRY SEIDLIN, BROWARD COUNTY FAMILY COURT: We have a child. Is it a little girl?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a little girl, your honor.
SEIDLIN: A little girl, a beautiful little girl.
HAMMER (voice-over): The little girl the judge is talking about is Anna Nicole Smith`s five-month-old daughter, Dannielynn, a now mother-less infant in the middle of an increasingly messy custody battle. A battle whose latest chapter played out in this Ft. Lauderdale courtroom all day long.
SEIDLIN: we have a five-to six-month-old little girl, whose mother right now is in a position where we don`t want her to be, in a cold place.
HAMMER: The judge was hearing more arguments in the fight over who should get possession of Anna Nicole`s remains. But much of the lengthy hearing kept coming back to the baby, whose grandmother, Anna Nicole`s estranged mother Virgie Arthur, tearfully watched on.
JOHN O`QUINN, ATTORNEY FOR ANNA NICOLE`S MOTHER: Counsel did exactly what they said they are trying to do. They are trying to trash my client.
HAMMER: And as SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you, Virgie Arthur wasn`t the only person with lawyers in the room. Attorneys for Anna Nicole`s ex- boyfriend Larry Birkhead and Anna Nicole`s partner Howard K. Stern were also there. Stern and Birkhead both claim to be Dannielynn`s father. Howard K. Stern`s name is listed on Dannielynn`s birth certificate, but he was not in the Florida courtroom. He stayed with in the Bahamas with Dannielynn.
And a court has ordered that the baby not be allowed to leave the island.
KRISTA BARTH, ATTORNEY FOR HOWARD K. STERN: He can`t. They filed a restraining order, saying they can`t take his baby daughter out of the Bahamas. He can`t leave her. He can`t leaver her there. You want him to leave that baby alone? Are you kidding me? Look who`s -- what`s around you.
HAMMER: Concern for little Dannielynn is higher than ever, especially following a shocking report that Anna Nicole may have been under-feeding her baby.
HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ.COM: She wanted her baby to be, quote, sexy.
HAMMER: Bombshell charges from Anna Nicole`s one time nanny. In this sworn affidavit, obtained by the entertainment website TMZ.com, the shocking allegations are part of a wrongful termination lawsuit.
LEVIN: She ordered this nanny, according to the affidavit, to under- feed the child, with baby food, and the nanny says that the baby looked under-nourished as a result.
HAMMER: And while startling accusations emerge about Anna Nicole`s parenting, day two of the increasingly bitter court room battle unfolded. One of the most contentious issues, getting DNA to help determine who really is Dannielynn`s father.
SEIDLIN: So tell me, my California friends, what are we going to do? Are you going to have -- these alleged fathers are going to belly up and give their DNA? Why do we want to take the DNA of the child without having all these -- bringing the whole global group? See, I go back to my diagram, the child. I think the child should know who her father is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don`t know why we are getting the impression this baby is out there unloved. There`s no greater love than the love of Mr. Stern.
HAMMER: And while all sides battle it out over the DNA, Howard K. Stern and her mother, Virgie Arthur, are fighting over who will get Anna Nicole`s remains.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have people that loved her, that stood by her, that were actually there, that actually knew her. And the woman sitting across from me has not laid eyes on that young lady since 1995. She`s never laid eyes on her granddaughter. And she sits here today to take her to Texas and put her in the ground all alone.
O`QUINN: My client is the woman`s mother. She wants to take her home to Texas to be buried with the rest of the family. The law says she can.
HAMMER: And while Anna Nicole`s mother wants to take Anna Nicole`s body back to Texas, Howard K. Stern is fighting to have Anna Nicole buried in the Bahamas, next to her son Daniel, who died from a drug overdose just days after she gave birth to Dannielynn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anna Nicole Smith purchased a plot next to her son. She didn`t buy one. She bought two.
HAMMER: And as Anna Nicole`s body remains refrigerated at the medical examiner`s office - -
SEIDLIN: That body is not going to be moved until this court rules.
HAMMER: The battle continues to brew over a little baby, still too young to realizer her loss or to miss the mother she barely knew.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Today, a dna sample was scheduled to be taken from Anna Nicole`s body. And the battle over her body is scheduled to continue in court tomorrow. So, after all is said and done, all of the legal battles, we keep coming back to the baby. Is she in danger? What really needs to happen here? Joining us tonight, Court TV correspondent and host of "Hollywood Heat," Ashleigh Banfield, and investigative journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell. She is in Los Angeles.
Ladies, good to have you back. Anna Nicole`s daughter, Dannielynn, in the Bahamas, as this is all going on, all the court proceedings. We know very little of the baby`s condition right now. Jane, it seems to me that this is just a time bomb waiting to go off.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Absolutely. A.J., I think the insanity in this case is contagious. It`s totally whacko. The judge in Florida says, at the heart of everything I do is concern over the well-being of this child, and then proceeds to allow these attorneys to bicker for several hours over the body, not advancing the cause of the child and her well-being one iota. Same thing happening in the Bahamas. We hear that the Bohemian police, the CSI unit goes to the mansion where Howard K. Stern and the baby have reportedly called home. Yet, guess what they are investigating? Not the baby`s well-being, reports of a burglary.
This is complete insanity, given the fact that a nanny, not just anybody, but the baby`s nanny said that this child was being purposely underfed to keep her, quote, unquote, sexy. A lot of people might think that`s crazy. But, given Anna Nicole`s potentially drug-addled state, and the fact that she was completely obsessed with being sexy, that was her stock in trade, and being thin, also her stock in trade, I think it makes a lot of sense.
HAMMER: Well, I want to talk about these charges that have been leveled, that Anna Nicole Smith may have underfed her daughter to make her, quote, more sexy, which is just so outrageous to hear, but it`s in a sworn affidavit. Ashleigh, if that proves to be true, and if, in fact, Howard K. Stern was there witnessing it all, because we do know that Howard K. Stern was there when the child was born and for the first months of its life, could Howard K. Stern be facing some negligence charges down the road?
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, COURT TV ANCHOR: I think you have to be really careful how you look at this. This is one person`s story. This is one affidavit. It is filed in connection with a very one-sided affair, which is a wrongful termination lawsuit. When celebrities die, people do tend to come out of the woodwork and try to get their two cents and their fame as well. These all are possibilities.
I think you have to be very careful before indicting either Anna Nicole Smith or Howard K. Stern. And I should also remind everybody who is watching that Howard K. Stern is not named in that affidavit as the person who may have been abusive to this child. You just have to be very cautious until all facts are known. At this point, all we know is one person`s story.
HAMMER: This is true. Jane, do you want to chime off on that?
MITCHELL: Well, with all due respect, I disagree, because it`s not just one person`s story. It has to be taken in the context of other things that have been uncovered. TMZ also uncovered allegations that she was getting late into her pregnancy deliveries of Methadone, Demerol, and sleeping pills. And there were declarations by some of her friends, at least one of them, who said she saw Anna Nicole Smith taking Methadone during her pregnancy.
I talked to Jackie, one of her best friends just yesterday, and said yes, she was taking drugs during her pregnancy.
BANFIELD: But Jackie has never seen Anna Nicole during her pregnancy. Jackie is making these comments from California. She`s been cut off from Anna for a long, long time.
MITCHELL: I`m not trying to indict anyone. All I`m saying is let`s err on the side of caution. Let`s take this child out of the environment. Child Protective Services in the United States would do that, say, hey, let`s take this child, put it in foster care, take it to a hospital, make sure this baby is OK. And then we will iron out everything legally.
HAMMER: Let me ask you both something. Because you have both been in courtrooms a lot before. You`ve seen all kinds of strange behavior. Jane, you alluded to the judge talking about trying to respect the dignity of Anna Nicole Smith. Ashleigh, let me start off with you, have you ever seen anything quite so unseemly as what`s going on here?
BANFIELD: What`s funny about it, A.J., is we rarely get cameras into a judge`s chambers during a probate court issue. These are things that are usually pretty boring. This is how to divide up money after someone dies, and rarely is that a public proceeding. But I have to be honest with you. This isn`t out of the norm. This is the way usually these informal hearings are conducted.
They are a little noisy. People do talk over one another, and judges try to keep the reign. So, while it`s weird on television, to see it publicly, it`s actually not that unusual for a probate situation to unfold like this.
HAMMER: It is weird, because we are talking about the body of a woman who has been dead for a week.
BANFIELD: The story notwithstanding. I mean, the story is weird, but the proceeding is par for the course.
HAMMER: Still pretty strange though, Jane.
MITCHELL: Absolutely. I think the underlying theme of this whole saga is that celebrities who are willing to use their lives, their relationships, their bodies and perhaps even their children as commodities can get special treatment from all sorts of institutions, from doctors, from the courts, form immigration officials. This is a very cynical, cynical story and I think we have to look at everything that`s happening in that context.
HAMMER: Jane Velez-Mitchell, Ashleigh Banfield, thank you as always. We`ll be talking to you very soon, I am sure.
ANDERSON: And now we want to hear what you think about it. It is our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day, Anna Nicole baby battle, is Dannielynn in danger? Vote at CNN.com/SHOWBIZTONIGHT. Send us an e-mail, SHOWBIZTONIGHT@CNN.com. And you can also vote on the question of the day by sending a text to 45688. To vote yes, write "SHOWBIZ Yes." If you want to vote no, write "SHOWBIZ No." Again, send that text to 45688.
HAMMER: Another mystery in this case I`ve been wondering about, the money. Coming up, we`re crunching the numbers to see how much Anna Nicole really left behind.
Also, rehab lessons learned from the Anna Nicole tragedy. Danny Bonaduce coming back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. He will be here with his firecracker brand of wisdom. That`s on the way.
We`ll also have this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM HARDAWAY, FORMER NBA BASKETBALL STAR: Well, you know, I hate gay people. So, you know, I let it be known. I don`t like gay people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: A former NBA star`s explosive anti-gay comments. We`ll take a look at the fallout and why his apology isn`t ringing true to a lot of people.
HAMMER: And staying together in Hollywood, long after the I do`s. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT presents the secrets of Hollywood couples who actually manage to make their marriages work. That`s coming up. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT for Thursday night. This is TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. Now, I thought that "Grey`s Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington using an anti-gay slur, using the F word in that case, was disgusting. But it`s hard for me to describe how absolutely terrible and despicable retired NBA star Tim Hardaway sounded on a Miami, Florida radio show.
Listen to this, he said he hates gay people. Hardaway`s awful words were sparked by John Amaechi. He`s another player from the NBA, who used to play in the NBA. he went public last week, admitting that he`s gay. Take a listen to Hardaway`s hateful words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARDAWAY: Well, you know, I hate gay people. So, you know, I let it be known. I don`t like gay people. I don`t like to be around gay people. I`m homophobic. I don`t like it. It shouldn`t be in the world for that, or in the United States for it. So, yes, I don`t like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Hardaway went on to say that he wouldn`t want to play with a gay teammate. He wouldn`t want him in the locker room. And he would actually ask that the guy be kicked off the team. Hardaway did apologize later on though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARDAWAY: Yes, I do. I regret it. I`m sorry. I shouldn`t have said anything like that. I shouldn`t have said that, you know, I hate gay people or anything like that. I should have just said I don`t condone, you know, him being in the locker room. And that was my mistake. That`s all I have to say. And I`m sorry. I didn`t mean that -- have an uproar in Miami and that was just my mistake and my bad. And I`m sorry to everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Yes, my bad indeed. Were you paying close attention to that apology? See, in it, Hardaway says he`s sorry for saying what he said, but he doesn`t seem to deny that he truly believes it. The NBA tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that it has banned him from upcoming appearances.
ANDERSON: Now onto the mystery over Anna Nicole Smith`s money. And let me tell you, I do mean mystery. In the days before her death, Anna Nicole lived what seemed like the life of a millionaire, shopping for a yacht, living in a mansion. But did Anna Nicole leave behind millions of dollars or nothing at all?
I got a chance to talk with Kiri Blakeley, senior reporter at "Forbes Magazine." And she gave us a reality check on Anna Nicole`s money.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Kiri, I want to start with what we do know. Anna Nicole Smith was a model. She was a spokesperson for TrimSpa. She had her own reality show. You guys crunch the numbers, so tell us what was she really worth?
KIRI BLAKELEY, "FORBES MAGAZINE": Well, by Hollywood standards, Anna Nicole Smith was not really worth a lot of money. I mean, we would say under five million. Her TrimSpa gig probably paid her between 300,000 and 500,000 dollars. She had a reality show which maybe she got 10,000 dollars an episode. She made 28 episodes, so about 300,000 dollars. She would go to events and get paid for that. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would get 50,000 dollars to show up at an event and host a party.
Maybe she did five a year. Maybe she got half a million out of that.
ANDERSON: Are you including her "Playboy" work as well, because she was Playboy Playmate of the Year, did some DVDs for them.
BLAKELEY: Yes, she`s not going to get paid a lot for that, no. I mean, "Playboy" is going to make the money out of that, not her. That is mostly for promotional purposes and to help her own career. That`s a stepping stone for somebody. Maybe if you`re Pam Anderson, you make some moneys off DVDs on that. I mean, so we are talking under five million dollars.
ANDERSON: So not in the poor house, but by Hollywood`s standards.
BLAKELEY: I would take it.
ANDERSON: No kidding, right. Well, let me ask you this, when she died in Florida, she had a body guard with her, a nurse. She was reportedly shopping for a yacht, supposedly worth 500,000 dollars, lived in a mansion in the Bahamas, estimated to be worth about 900,000 dollars. She had nannies. Kiri, what I`m getting at here is, if she didn`t have a whole lot of money, how did she afford this lifestyle?
BLAKELEY: Well, first of all, the house she was living in was not her house. It was an ex-boyfriend`s house and she was basically squatting there. And he`s been trying to get rid of her. She doesn`t own the house. You really only take over someone`s house if you don`t own any property of your own. Nannies are cheap. I imagine in the Bahamas probably even cheaper.
ANDERSON: Yes, not in L.A.
BLAKELEY: I know plenty of people who have nannies, who don`t make 300,000 dollars a year. A body guard, sure, that`s an expense, but maybe she only had him part time, or occasionally. And a boat, so she`s looking at a boat. I mean, when she buys the boat, then I`ll pay attention.
ANDERSON: Well, when she died, Kiri, we all know she was in a legal battle for the money of her late husband J. Howard Marshall. We have heard numbers like 474 million, 88 million, eight million. Even though she was fighting for money, when she was married to him, he gifted her a lot of money, didn`t he?
BLAKELEY: Well, supposedly he gave her up to eight million dollars worth of jewelry and property. No one really knows, unless it`s in the will. Maybe Howard K. Stern knows. But that is possible, and, if so, that`s probably where the bulk of her assets came from, unless she squandered it or something like that.
But yes, and the numbers that she may or may not -- her state inherit, they are all over the place. Everything from, like you said, a half a billion to nothing.
ANDERSON: Yes, you know, the state of her finances just one of many mysteries surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith. We are going to have to leave it there. Kiri Blakeley from "Forbes Magazine," as always, thanks for your insight.
BLAKELEY: Thank you.
HAMMER: So what can be learned from the Anna Nicole tragedy? Well, coming up, the one and only Danny Bonaduce is going to join us to look for the silver lining. Are there rehab lessons to take away? That`s coming up in the interview you`ll see only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
ANDERSON: Plus, Courtney Cox dishes the dirt on kissing Jennifer Aniston on her new TV show. Was it a steamy scene? Courtney tells me the real deal straight ahead.
We`re also going to have this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like Moses. We are giving people what they want.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what is it they want, Moses?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Women want successful men. Men want beautiful women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Is this guy for real? Are you kidding me? Is the dating pool really that shallow? Well, there`s a dating service that says, yes indeed. Only the rich and beautiful need apply. So we`ve got to check it out and that is coming up on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Well, you know that kiss you`ve heard about between Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston? well, Courtney says don`t get too excited about it. The two stars are appearing together for the first time on screen since their days on the hit show "Friends."
Aniston is guest-starring on the season finale of Cox`s new show, "Dirt." Aniston plays a lesbian, and there is a scene involving a much buzzed about kiss. But when I sat down with Courtney, she told me it`s really not that big of a deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COURTNEY COX, ACTRESS: It`s just a goodbye kiss. The great thing about watching Jennifer on the show is getting to see her act again, because she`s a wonderful actress, and just seeing her play this fun character, and seeing us together for the first time in, I don`t know, four years. But it`s not -- I mean, don`t tune in for the kiss. Yes, we kiss, we absolutely kiss, but it`s not about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: "Dirt" airs Tuesdays on the FX Network.
HAMMER: And you know people will be tuning in for the kiss.
Well Courtney and her husband, David Arquette, really seem to have a Hollywood marriage that works, even if she is kissing other women. But all too often, the divorce papers come through even before the fifth anniversary. Well coming up, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT takes a look at the secrets of Hollywood couples who are actually staying together.
ANDERSON: Also, Anna Nicole Smith`s death, a tragedy in so many ways, but are there lessons that we can take away from it? Coming up, the one and only Danny Bonaduce is here to look for the rehab lessons to be learned.
HAMMER: And we know Fedex is supposed to be fast about things, but this is ridiculous. I`m talking about an unbelievable scene from a slippery highway, and as you see, it`s all caught on tape. We`re going to tell you what happened coming up in the video of the day. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is coming right back for Thursday night. Don`t go anywhere.
(NEWS BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It`s 30 minutes past the hour. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
ANDERSON: And I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. This is TV`s most provocative entertainment news show.
HAMMER: Now more of SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s continuing coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith. One question on everybody`s mind -- will Anna Nicole`s tragic end be a much-need wakeup call to out-of-control young Hollywood stars who really could be headed down the same troubled path?
Joining me tonight from Hollywood, a guy who certainly knows about the price of fame and its many pitfalls, Danny Bonaduce. You, of course, know Danny from "The Partridge Family." Most recently he has shared his own battles with alcohol and drugs on his VH1 reality show "Breaking Bonaduce."
Danny, it`s always good to have you on the program. I appreciate you being here.
DANNY BONADUCE, ACTOR: It`s always a pleasure to be here.
HAMMER: So a lot of people, as this thing unfolded over the last week were shocked but not surprised so much as what I found by Anna`s death. Knowing you, I`m going to guess you kind of felt the same way when you heard the news.
BONADUCE: I was not only not shocked about her death, I was shocked that she lived so long.
HAMMER: Shocked that she lived so long. Why do you think she shouldn`t have even been around this long? Was it just based on the behavior of the past years?
BONADUCE: Did you see her the night she tried to introduce Kanye West?
HAMMER: Yeah. That wasn`t a good appearance.
BONADUCE: It wasn`t a good appearance. If that`s the way you are going to go on one of the biggest television show in the world, the most viewers, and people that are supposed to care about you, Howard K. Stern is a UCLA Law School graduate and he took either his girlfriend or his client or whatever their relationship is and he propped her up in front of that podium so she could make a fool of herself and try and speak the king`s English.
Did anyone care about this woman? And if nobody cared, then the drugs were going to kill her.
HAMMER: You see, it seemed to me all along, and I think to a lot of people who were observes from this side of the television that there have been red flags all along the way for her. And how is it possible that she wasn`t in rehab? We saw the last interview that she gave where she could barely speak. How is it that someone who is in her situation, Danny, wasn`t getting some kind of professional care?
BONADUCE: I will tell you how. Because I have some experience here. An intervention is a very interesting thing. Because an intervention that you don`t agree to has another name. It`s called kidnapping. You cannot intervene in some free American`s life and force them to go to a rehab. She was not arrested. She was not a felon. She had no convictions. You cannot make Anna Nicole Smith do anything.
So what they did was they kept making whatever money they could, and I don`t mean to be too horrible. Yeah, I do mean to be too horrible. These guys deserve it.
HAMMER: Go ahead.
BONADUCE: These blood sucking sycophants just said well, let`s cash in until she dies and that`s what they did.
HAMMER: A lot of people are saying that`s exactly what it looked like was going on. To me truly shocking that somebody hadn`t stepped in, particularly when you hear of how much she was cared for by certain people close to her.
Danny, here on the show, here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT we have been saying now that Anna`s tragedy really needs to serve as a big wake-up call to Paris, to Britney, to Lindsay, do you think there`s any chance they are paying any attention to this and looking at their own lives saying hey, that can be me?
BONADUCE: My guess, and I have to speak for all of them I`m not quite as positive as if I had to speak for just one or two of them. But in a general area, no, they will not serve as a wake-up call. And I want to make this clear, if somebody looks at my past life and say who were you? Weren`t you a drug addict and a drunk, didn`t you do all these things? Yes, yes I did and I don`t separate myself from Anna Nicole Smith.
If several years ago I had gotten behind the wheel of a car drunk and killed myself, I would expect somebody else to be sitting in this chair and saying the truth, nobody cared about him. He got drunk. That`s what was going to happen to Danny Bonaduce, he died drunk like he should have.
HAMMER: So Danny back in those days, in your darkest days when you were drunk getting behind the wheel of a car. Had a tragedy, a public tragedy like this unfolded with a public figure like Anna Nicole, would it have even crossed your radar that this was something that could have happened to you or are you so far gone and off in your own world that it wouldn`t impact you at all?
BONADUCE: Ready for the saddest story of my whole life?
HAMMER: I`d love to hear it.
BONADUCE: I was asked that question by a doctor and clergyman and they said to me don`t you want to live for your children and I only had one child at the time and I said no, no, really, I don`t because if I die, my wife will marry some accountant from her church. I will be a fond memory to my daughter and she will be raised by a real live human being instead of whatever it is I`ve become.
HAMMER: So as a result we can look towards, as I mentioned, you know, as I mentioned some of these young starlets, we look at Lindsay Lohan that has just been in and out of rehab. Solid chance that she would not be acknowledging this as something that may befell her. It comes down to invincibility, doesn`t it?
BONADUCE: It does. It comes down to, A, a feeling of invincibility but also drug addicts have a tendency to look at other drug addicts like they are stupid. You look at somebody just like you, I could have been looking in the mirror at myself in the mirror ten years ago and said what an idiot, you don`t see it.
There`s not a chance in the world that Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears who could almost be Anna Nicole`s double and there`s no chance in my opinion that she`s saying wow, that could have been me. She is saying, that wouldn`t be me in a million years.
HAMMER: Do you get the impression that Anna Nicole herself ever looked in the mirror and had any sense of what was actually going on in her life?
BONADUCE: Yeah. I do. I know there were times that I would look in the mirror and I would say - I would look in the mirror and I`d almost see the kid from "The Partridge Family" and I`d look in the mirror and say, how did you let this happen to us? We were something. How did we deteriorate into this? But unfortunately the answer to those feelings is usually in another bottle.
HAMMER: So short of taking them aside and having an intervention, again, going back to the Hollywood starlets, whether it`s Britney, Lindsay, Paris, Nicole, whoever it may be, how do you make them understand? How do you make them understand? Look at the headlines in this newspaper. Look at what happened to this woman who on a lot of fronts looked like she had it all. We all know what the reality was of that but how do you make them understand and apply it to themselves?
BONADUCE: Well, I will tell you, I have only seen - and I applaud this guy, and I wish I knew his name and I don`t but do you remember when Lindsay loan was staying at the Mondrian Hotel and her boss from the movie she was shooting with Jane Fonda said listen, you don`t keep Jane Fonda waiting when you are 19. Your behavior is unacceptable. We will not work with you like this. Nobody does that in Hollywood.
If I can remember that man`s name, I would write him a letter of appreciation. That had to set it straight. He said, this is my real job. This is what makes me be able to do all the things that I do is that I`m famous and do these movies. My boss is writing me and telling me I`ll cut you out of the picture.
HAMMER: You have had that happen to you?
BONADUCE: No. I have never, ever, except on "Breaking Bonaduce" which was about kind of creating and recreating my past, I have never shown up at work intoxicated. I have always done my job very well. I`ve never had that happen.
But I`ve done -- You think work is important. I`ve shown up at Christmas drunk. I`ve shown up at my wife`s dinner party naked. Does that count?
HAMMER: Sure. We will allow for that. So Danny, and this may be a rhetorical question. We may know the answer. Let me get your take. Do you think it`s a matter of time before we see another tragedy like this? We`ve been talking for so long, it`s only a matter of time before somebody gets hurt because of the paparazzi, only a matter of time before another anorexic model starves to death.
What about something like this? With what we see going on in young Hollywood and what we just saw happen with Anna Nicole Smith?
BONADUCE: Here are the big four, of course, Nicole Richie, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan. Of those big four, there`s one you`re not thinking of. And that is Anna Nicole`s baby. She is going to end up in my opinion being raised by Anna Nicole`s blood relatives that can prove by birth and by DNA that they are connected to that child. And if she does, and if she ends up in that family`s home, she`s going to walk in Anna Nicole`s footprints and we are going to be back here in 29 years discussing boy, how did that happen? I worry for Dannielynn more than I worry for those girls.
HAMMER: A lot of people are. It`s really sad there is this child who lost a mother she really will never remember from her own experiences. Of course she will know what she sees from all the reports in the tabloids.
Danny, we`ve got -- I`m sorry, we are out of time. We`ve got to wrap it up.
You were talking before about Morgan Creek Productions, CEO James Robinson, by the way, giving that good advice to Lindsay Lohan.
Danny Bonaduce, thanks as always for your insight. I really appreciate your take on all of this.
BONADUCE: My pleasure.
HAMMER: Brooke, you know that we always seem to be talking about marriages in Hollywood that go bust. Danny`s almost did. But there are actually some marriages in Hollywood that work.
ANDERSON: Yeah. And it`s refreshing but celebrities tell us it takes work. It`s not easy.
HAMMER: Got to give them credit. Coming up, we will have a revealing look at why some do succeed while others seem star crossed. Speaking of hooking up, we have also got this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like Moses. We are giving people what they want.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what is it that they want, Moses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Women want successful men. Men want beautiful women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Oh geez. Talk about shallow, right? Well, coming up, the outrage over the new type of dating where only the well endowed are allowed.
HAMMER: And a cop car gets crushed by a FedEx truck and fortunately everybody lives to tell about it. We are delivering this stunning SHOWBIZ TONIGHT video of the day next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York. I want you to take a look at this absolutely stunning video of the day.
Bam. That`s a FedEx truck jackknifing and slamming into a police car in Kentucky. The officers` dashboard camera caught it on tape. Their car was hit from behind, and they ended up facing traffic. Slippery roads were to blame in this case. And get this, no one was seriously injured. That is amazing. And that is our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT video of the day.
ANDERSON: OK, so we talk a lot about celebrity marriages crashing here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, and a lot of times, well, you know, you do expect to hear the words "divorce" or "breakup."
But wait, some Hollywood hookups actually do work. Stop laughing, because I`m serious. So all you stars, listen up, because right here, right now, I`m revealing the secrets to keeping couples together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLINT EASTWOOD: It seems right now that all I`ve ever done in my life has been making my way here today.
ANDERSON (voice-over): It happens all the time in the movies, true loves played out on the big screen like this scene between Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in 1995`s "The Bridges of Madison County."
So why does it seem in Los Angeles County home to Hollywood`s biggest stars, love and marriage often do not end happily ever after.
COOPER LAWRENCE, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Anybody who gets any kind of fame or notoriety very quickly, it give it is them certain sense of entitlement, it changes who they are. So once you get into a marriage and you have to start compromising, well my live isn`t about compromise. I don`t have to compromise any aspect of my life, and you should understand that.
ANDERSON: Overly pampered lifestyles and often challenging career demands could be to blame.
LAWRENCE: Reese and Ryan are two kids who got married very young whereas the rest of us developmentally we would continue together and grow together. Her career specifically took on such another life of its own.
RYAN PHILIPPE, FORMERLY MARRIED TO REESE WITHERSPOON: There are so many different factors that go in. And fifty percent of people in the country have found themselves in that situation, who have been married once.
ANDERSON: Despite the very public celebrity splits, many marriages in Hollywood can and often do overcome the glitz and glamour.
Sara Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are a good example. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, they have been together a really long time. So there can be very happy marriages in Hollywood.
Eastwood`s second trip down the aisle has lasted for 10 years while Streep has been happily hitched since 1978.
For many A list couple it is all about finding that delicate balance between work and family.
LAWRENCE: Helen Mirren is almost a visionary when it comes to marriage especially in Hollywood. Because it`s the idea that you have to be individuals. You`ve got to allow the other person to create and be who they are.
HELEN MIRREN, ACTRESS: We allow each other the freedom to work and that I think s a greatest gift a husband can give a wife and a wife can give a husband, especially when they are both artists.
LAWRENCE: I get the impression from Will and Jada that they probably laugh like crazy and I think it`s the celebrities that can put the marriage first and realize that life is about who you have love and who`s loved you back. That`s where the priorities should be. And those are the couples that tend to make it.
ANDERSON: That`s the secret between Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick`s 18-year union.
KEVIN BACON, ACTOR: We put our relationship and our relationship to our children first. We put it first before fame and money and success and whatever else.
SAMUEL L. JACKSON, SAYS COMMUNICATION IS KEY: If you communicate, you talk. Sometimes you`ve got to say you`re sorry even when you are not.
ANDERSON: But in the end, even cupid must confess.
BACON: Never take advice from a movie star on how to keep your marriage together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (on camera): Singer Seal had some words of wisdom at the Grammies a few days ago. He told me that his wife, model Heidi Klum, is his best friend, and they always strive to treat each other with both love and respect.
HAMMER: Well, Howard Stern is throwing his hat into the marriage ring. Not talking about Howard K. Stern. I`m talking about the shock jock. He shocked his audience. His Sirius listeners when he announced that he was engaged. And in true Howard style, he proposed to model girlfriend Beth Ostrosky with a ring while they were naked in bed. She was pretty surprised, saying, "Are you for real?" But she did say yes so congrats to the both of them.
ANDERSON: All right. Well, Howard Stern is a really rich guy who got a really hot girl. And according to the organizers of a brand-new type of speed dating, that`s how the world should work. Men want sexy women, women want money.
But yeah, some are outraged, calling it really shallow. Here`s CNN`s Jeanne Moos taking SHOWBIZ TONIGHT out for an expensive night out on the town.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Think of it as speed dating on steroids. Only rich men and hot women need apply.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I`m not embarrassed at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promise you that I`m not embarrassed that it`s shallow.
MOOS: Sort of makes "The Dating Game," seem quaint. Only 40 of the more than 900 women who applied for Natural Selection speed dating made the cut based totally on their photos.
JANIS SPINDEL, SERIOUS MATCHMAKING, INC.: Pretty blond, lawyer, big eyes, pretty face, great hair, pretty skin. In.
MOOS: And to get in, the men had to submit financial data to prove they are loaded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, big papa! A hundred thirteen million.
MOOS: The cream of the dating crop, approximately 40 men and 40 women ended up in a Manhattan club speed dating. Three minutes per partner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies, it`s time to rotate to the next highest table!
MOOS: The men paid 500 bucks for this night out. The women 50. Organizers dismissed hate mail they`ve gotten from feminists and anti- elitists.
JEREMY ABELSON, POCKETCHANGENYC.COM: We`re giving people - I feel like Moses. We`re giving people what they want.
MOOS: What is it they want, Moses?
ABELSON: Women want successful men. Men want beautiful women.
MOOS (on camera): I would assume you would have zero trouble meeting men.
ANA MACVALOVAITE, NATURAL SELECTION SPEED DATER: I have no trouble meeting men. I have trouble meeting quality men.
MOOS (voice-over): Ana is a human rights lawyer. But where are the human rights?
(oh camera): We`re headed downstairs. We`re being sequestered while the event is underway.
(voice-over): TV crews could shoot only a few minutes of the speed dating. Few of these elite speed daters wanted their faces shown. Those with blue dots were off limits to the press.
(on camera): Are you after a rich guy?
SAILA SMITH, NATURAL SELECTION SPEED DATER: No. Am I after a rich guy? A good, smart, intelligent, successful.
MOOS: With a net worth of over a million?
SMITH: Yeah. What`s wrong with that?
MOOS: Midway through the event -- how is this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Depends on the person. Five seconds, you know!
VEKRUM KAUSHI, NATURAL SELECTION SPEED DATER: Interesting is the best way to describe it.
MOOS (on camera): Any nice girls?
KAUSHI: Um. No.
MOOS: You`re straight, right?
KAUSHI: Yes.
MOOS: OK!
(voice-over): To placate detractors, organizers have another speed dating event in the works.
ABELSON: Sugar mammas and boy toys.
MOOS: Women 45 and older worth $4 million speed dating speed dating poor guys 28 and under. It`s too soon to tell if true love blossomed here.
(on camera): Have you two met?
ROHIT SINGH, NATURAL SELECTION SPEED DATER: No. We just met on camera. Who knows, this might be the match made in heaven.
MOOS (voice-over): They did meet for a nice follow-up date.
SMITH: Men are visual, let`s face it.
MOOS (on camera): And I see you`ve dressed for the occasion?
SMITH: Why, thank you.
MOOS (voice-over): Deep cleavage, deep pockets, nothing shallow about that. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: That was the very un-shallow CNN`s Jeanne Moos for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
The "Showbiz Weight watch" is next. Our ongoing coverage of Hollywood`s obsession with body image. We`ve got the explosive, heartbreaking story of two sisters, models, who died just months apart. Was it an eating disorder that killed them? That`s next on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. It`s time now for the "Showbiz Weight Watch," and this is where we cover issues of body image and Hollywood like nobody else. Tonight, a shocking and heartbreaking story from the fashion world -- two sisters, both of them models, have died within months of each other, and tonight, there is speculation that eating disorders may be linked to the deaths. Eighteen- year-old Eliana Ramos has been buried in Uruguay after being found dead of apparent heart failure.
And just six months ago, her 22-year-old sister Luisel died shortly after finishing a runway show in Uruguay`s capital. While the deaths are being considered heart attacks, it is suspected that malnutrition was the real cause.
Models who knew the sisters insist neither had an eating disorder, but anorexia has recently been blamed for the deaths of other models, and the fashion industry has taken steps to ban ultrathin models from the runways. Today, I spoke with Tyra Banks, who has been fighting back against criticism after gaining weight when she retired from modeling.
I asked her who she thought had to take responsibility for the superskinny, sometimes sickly models.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYRA BANKS, TALK SHOW HOST: I think everyone needs to take responsibility, including myself. I was a model for so long, although I was 30 pounds heavier than the average model during my career, I still was a model and still projecting an image that was very difficult to live up to. So it`s my responsibility to show myself unretouched, to come out on my talk show with my face washed, to show my cellulite, to show my back fat on my bra.
That`s my responsibility, to show people I don`t even look like the pictures in the Victoria`s Secret catalog that have totally been retouched
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Be sure to watch SHOWBIZ TONIGHT tomorrow to hear what Tyra told me about all the nasty tabloid attention she has been getting and why she won`t keep quiet about it.
HAMMER: As the battle over Anna Nicole Smith`s body continues, yesterday, we asked you to vote on our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Anna Nicole Smith -- should her mother decide where she is buried? Look at the voting. Forty-two percent of you say yes, she should, 58 percent of you say no, her mother shouldn`t.
Among the e-mails we got, we hear from Dawn in Arizona who writes, "Since Anna Nicole`s mother has not been in her life for so long, Anna should get her request and be buried near her son."
But Erika from Wisconsin doesn`t think that Howard K. Stern, who claims that Anna wanted to be buried near her son Daniel, should decide. "Howard was not her legal, lawful husband, so he has no say in where she should be buried."
That`s it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Thanks for watching. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
ANDERSON: Have a great night everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. GLENN BECK is next, right after the latest headlines from CNN Headline News. Take care, everyone.
END
