Former playmate Anna Nicole Smith dead at 39

Former playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith passed away under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in Miami, Florida, in the early hours on Friday. She was 39.

The cause of her death has yet not been announced, though it is suspected that Smith died of drug overdose.

An autopsy will be conducted on Friday, reports the BBC.

Reports published in the US media say that Smith was found unconscious in her hotel room and could not be resuscitated.

She married 89-year-old Texas oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall II in 1994 when she was 26. He died a year later.

She had to spend years fighting a legal battle against Marshall's son for a share of his estate, which she eventually won at the Supreme Court in 2006. Smith’s lawyers have told the media that her husband Howard K. Sten was "speechless and grieving" over her death.

Earlier, her son Daniel had died at the age of 20 last September, just days after Smith's daughter was born.

The baby girl is the subject of a paternity suit because Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead claims himself to be father of the child.

Smith's contention, however, was that her lawyer Stern was the father of the child.

Born as Vicki Lynn Hogan in Mexia, Texas, on November 28, 1967, Smith modelled for Guess Jeans and Playboy before marrying Marshall besides working in several films.

She also had her own reality TV show 'The Anna Nicole Smith show' from 2002 to 2004.