For Dannielynn Birkhead, it is especially meaningful to wear her pieces from her late mother Anna Nicole Smith’s wardrobe.
“I can’t know my mom, sadly, and this is one of the only reasons and ways I can,” Dannielynn, 18, told Access Hollywood on Friday, May 2, during the Barnstable Brown Gala ahead of the Kentucky Derby. “This is the closest I’ll ever be getting to a hug from her, so I’ve been, like, on and off tears the whole day.”
Smith gave birth to Dannielynn five months before she tragically died in 2007 at the age of 39. Since then, her daughter has been raised by father Larry Birkhead. The former photographer, 52, who first met Smith at the Barnstable-Brown Gala two decades ago, now tries to uphold her legacy to Dannielynn.
“Just to see her and have it be a full-circle moment for me is special,” Larry told Access of his daughter wearing Smith’s gown. “The fact that I spend all the money storing all these things and that she’s actually now grown into them and been able to wear them is a cool thing. It’s a special moment.”
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On Friday, Dannielynn turned heads in her mom’s black halter dress that featured sparkling embellishments across the bodice. It is just one of Smith’s famed looks that Larry kept for their daughter.
“Each outfit and each thing holds a story and a memory,” Larry told the outlet. “I think that it’s a way to tell a story and let Anna’s things tell through [Dannielynn’s] appreciation for them now. It’s funny because if she wore one dress every day for the rest of her life, she would still not run out of clothes because we have multiple storage bins!”
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According to Larry, it is especially “rewarding” to see Dannielynn try on her mom’s clothes. The teenager, for her part, feels the same — and concurs with fans that she resembles the late model.
“I’m an artist and for Christmas, I believe, I drew my mom for [my dad] as a little present and when I was drawing the eyebrows on her, I was like, ‘Those are the same as mine,’” Dannielynn quipped to Access. “I do see it sometimes, especially with what I drew. I was like, ‘Woah.’”
Larry and Dannielynn are fixtures at the Derby, often attending year after year.
