The untimely death of Anna Nicole Smith is definitely something not to make fun of. However, since a huge amount of money is involved, all the persons that ever had anything to do with her have turned this sad situation into a mess that closely resembles a circus. Former 'friends' came out of the woodwork to tell their absurd stories, 'sources' close to her went straight to the media to offer saucy details on Anna's way of life and what-not.
The events following Smith's death are very similar to what we get to see on those low-budget, years-long soap operas. And, since no soap-opera would not be complete without a case of terminal disease (until now, we have: drugs, incest, uncertain paternity, a huge fortune to be divided, many lovers, and a mysterious death), another 'good friend' of Anna's steps up to claim that she did not die of an overdose.
Frank Rodriguez, who has been a close friend of Anna (that much is true) is acting like any good friend out there: to clear Anna's name, he goes straight to the newspapers with a ridiculously out-there story. Keep in mind that he's not doing this for fame or to draw attention on himself. In an interview with 'Entertainment Tonight', Rodriguez says that his main motive behind going public so late after the death is that he saw people were inclining to believe that she did drugs and that was what killed her.
'[The public is] entitled to know the truth. I mean, she's gone and I don't like what I hear about her. I don't want people to remember her for what they say - that she was a drug addict. It angers me. It really, really upsets me.', Rodriguez told ET. So, because only he can shed some light, he delivers: Anna Nicole Smith had lupus (a condition she refused to talk about) and she died from it.
'Her whole body would ache. She would just shut down, basically; she would sleep for days. It was frightening at times, the seizures. She went into seizures a lot. She'd black out a lot of the times. She pulled me aside and she told me that she was on medication for it. She told me her condition.', he explained, adding that death probably occurred after 'her body just shut down'. He also said that Anna was too proud to seek help (reportedly, she was self-medicating the pain) or to make her condition public.
Stay tuned here because ET promises more details in its upcoming issue. That could mean any of the following things: either some sequel to this interview or brand new interviews with other 'friends' like Rodriguez, willing to spill their guts for the right amount of money (we all know that ET coughs up lots of dough for these stories).
