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True Hollywood Stories is classified M and is recommended for viewing by mature audiences.
It contains adult themes and drug use.
These are the true Hollywood stories.
Over the next hour we uncover the secret lives of Tinseltown's most controversial celebrities.
We will chronicle the rise and fall of River Phoenix from talented teen heartthrob to his premature death at the hands of a lethal cocktail of drugs.
You'll learn the truth about Anna Nicole Smith, the stripper turned Hollywood starlet.
When she marries a 90 year old millionaire, the scandals and lawsuits begin to fly.
As Hollywood wildman, Christian Slater battles the law and his own personal demons,
we take a ringside seat for the knockout story of a young actor out of control.
All of this tonight on True Hollywood Stories.
The story is told by people who knew him from the beginning.
I just really believe he was born right here.
To those who were fighting to save his life at the very end.
He was in a flat line which meant there was no hard activity whatsoever.
Plus rare, never before seen unreleased footage of River's final appearance on film.
It's getting dark in here.
You'll hear from Hollywood veterans such as movie critic Roger Ebert,
who was never losing his innocence and eventually his life in a swift and terrifying free fall.
It's an old story, you know.
Drugs make you feel like you can do things that the fact is you can't do.
And sooner or later, you either stop using them or you die.
You'll see for yourself a young man slowly losing touch with the world around him.
And you'll hear from River Phoenix himself.
There's no need to overstay your welcome.
This is the True Hollywood Story.
The True Hollywood Story
The short tumultuous life of River Jude Phoenix began in a little town in Oregon,
two and a half hours south of Portland.
It was here that River was born at the dawn of the 1970s.
His parents were hippies, openly questioning conventional American life and attitudes.
John Bottom and his wife Arlen, who now goes by the name Hart,
had traveled around the West Coast seeking peace and truth and spending time on communes.
In the summer of 1970, a year after the original Woodstock Music Festival,
they were among a dozen or so hippies arriving in Madras.
There they met a peppermint farmer named Roy Nance.
They had came into Madras and they had went to the unemployment office
and they were finding out where to seek a job and they were referred to come out and talk to me.
Well, when they came out, of course, I needed help and there was just no end to the hippies.
I mean, they kind of all met. I don't know how this all happened.
They were from all walks of all over the country.
Hart was pregnant that summer with River, her first child.
She went into labor in the communal house shared by all the visitors.
The Bottoms didn't want a doctor present.
They were married on the week of August 23, 1970.
I just really believe he was born right here. I'm just sure he was.
He did not go to the hospital at all and I was just so worried, you know,
a new little mother like that, not knowing, you know, and here's all the rest of the hippies.
They thought it was just a big picnic, you know.
By 1972, the Traveling Bottom family was deeply involved in The Children of God,
an evangelical sect run by a self-styled charismatic leader.
Books and newspaper articles have detailed the alleged activities of The Children of God,
including controversial sexual practices, some involving children.
It's not clear if River did have childhood sexual experiences within church guidelines,
but in private conversations, he did imply it to George Slyzer,
who directed River's final film, Dark Blood.
River did talk sometimes about his, I would say, his child sex life
and how he hated some of the things and then he didn't want to have anything to do with it
until he was like 14 or 15.
And then suddenly he, well, becoming a young man, obviously, like everybody,
he got urges and interests, girls, etc.
But I think there was also a terrible hate part in it because of his childhood.
River had only made a few commercials before deciding his vegan principles,
including a diet devoid of meat and dairy products and rejection of anything that threatened animals
would not allow him to continue promoting products.
Nevertheless, River did seek higher profile roles in television.
On an early audition, River and his family made friends with actress Sydney Penny,
best known for a long-running role on the daytime soap, All My Children.
Our mothers struck up a relationship early on, so that sort of,
it seems when the mothers become friends, the families join together.
And the ten of us, his batch and my batch, we were always getting together.
We would have dinner at each other's homes and share just normal everyday life experiences.
Eventually, River began landing guest roles on television.
These led to a regular role on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
The 1982 TV series was based on the classic movie musical.
Explorers introduced River Phoenix to movie audiences,
but his next film introduced River to new experiences that would alter his life forever.
The film was Stand By Me, in which River played a teenage outsider.
Well, I liked acting, but I always liked it, but I got real serious about it
right after a film called Explorers.
I had been in a motorcycle accident in the dirt field behind where I was racing around,
and a torsion tendon in my left knee, and was sitting around a lot,
thinking and getting very serious about life and realizing how important it was to me.
Then I got the Stand By Me audition, sooner or later, and I kind of limped in,
which kind of helped me for the part in a way,
because I kind of had this tragic air to me, because I was kind of bummed out about this.
Critic Roger Ebert thinks the Stand By Me role made River Phoenix a star.
Because he made such an impact in that film, he was not just another kid actor.
Well, he was a kid actor, but he had a special quality,
and it was a quality that he had all through his career of a certain clearness or transparency,
so that he seemed to be very natural and unaffected on the screen and not acting.
At 15 years old, River Phoenix was a full-fledged teen idol,
but if a million teenage girls had eyes for him,
a very shy River himself was interested in just one girl, a co-star by the name of Martha Plimpton.
I've known Martha since Mosquito Coast.
We get on really good, and we have a lot of the same beliefs and stuff,
so as far as feeling comfortable, it was fine.
When the true Hollywood story continues, a night of Halloween partying ends in real-life horror.
While we're en route to the hospital in the back of the ambulance,
one of the other firefighters knew who he was because he kept saying,
Come on, River, you can make it, come on.
Make sure you join us on the panel tonight at 9.30.
We've got Cheryl Kernow acting wonder kid Alex Dimitriadis,
and he's going to be reenacting some of the scenes from his latest film, Head On.
So put the kids to bed.
Oh, and Annalise Brackensee.
Every year, one winter's sale is better than the rest, and this is it.
The Ed Harry end of season clearance.
Our prices are so low, we clear all our winter stock in one hit,
including all the other winter stocks.
There's a range of tops priced to go at just $10.
Brakes washable wool trousers, a low $39.95, save $30.
Garrett trail jackets are down to $49.95, save up to $40.
Plus too many tops and shirts to mention at just $20.
The Ed Harry end of season clearance, while stocks last.
Sorry.
I have to say, there are occasions when I worry about my pad.
There can never be embarrassing leaks.
Well, I've seen something that's stopped me worrying.
Stay Free Slims may be a little thinner than a Maxi, but they have these channels.
See how they stop the liquid going over the side?
Brilliant.
I really don't worry about it anymore.
With Stay Free Slims, I feel more secure.
Stay Free Slims, great protection against side leakage.
Annoying quibbles.
Other cars have them, not the new Daihatsu Sirian.
There's no quibbles with the spacious interior, nor the all-new twin cam engine.
Central locking, power windows, and dual airbags just blow them away.
New Daihatsu Sirian. No quibbles.
From $11,490 drive away, no more to pay.
Daihatsu, Japan's big small car company.
Grab a package this month for Dreamland.
Yes, Dreamland packages start from only $399.
At Dreamland, we have packages to suit all tastes.
Pay only $699 for this timber and iron bed, mattress and Manchester.
Or pay $799 for this queen-size ensemble.
And we'll include a Manchester package too.
Grab a timber suite for only $999.
The loft bed, a quality ceiling mat and side table.
Yes, Dreamland, your bedding package specialist.
In the concrete jungle.
It's not a bald guy.
Damn you, laser guy!
You're the hunter.
Stay away from my friend!
Or the hunters.
I just have one thing to say to you boys.
On New South Wales, 7.30 Thursday on 10.
Tom Hanks and the network premiere of Apollo 13, Sunday.
In 1988, River hit the high point of his professional career
in his Oscar-nominated performance in Running on Empty.
The film held autobiographical echoes for River.
Like his real-life parents, his on-screen mom and dad were 60s gypsies.
But unlike John and Hart Phoenix, the movie counterparts were radicals on the run.
A far cry from his own folks.
They're not nearly as defensive or protective as the parents in Running on Empty are.
My parents are very different.
They are very aware of how things change and there will always be a place at the home front to crash if I need it.
And I'm, as of now, very happy and whatever happens, happens.
Running on Empty also reunited River with Martha Plimpton.
They celebrated his Oscar nomination by attending the 1989 Academy Awards together.
So has it sunken in yet, this nomination? You said it hadn't in Oscar Luncheon.
Yeah, it feels very good to be able to attend these awards.
It's the first time for me just to be here as a spectator, much less be nominated.
So it's exciting.
Now, come over here again. Come over to the side. There's Martha Plimpton right next to him.
Are you two going to be doing something else together?
The theme tonight for the presenters is co-stars and couples.
Do you two have any plans to perform together ever?
No plans, not at all.
I don't know if he deserved an Academy Award or not. Kevin Klein, I guess, won that year.
The Oscars are so arbitrary anyway. Who deserves to win? Who deserves to lose? Who deserves to be nominated?
He did very good work in Running on Empty. It was one of the best films of the year.
He was very, very important to it. His scenes with Martha Plimpton were wonderful.
Just getting the nomination helped put River in the front rank of bankable young actors.
But as the 90s beckoned, River Phoenix was becoming hardened to the Hollywood lifestyle.
Congratulations on your Golden Globe nomination.
Thank you very much.
The press is always looking for a little twist to a story.
What I've learned is it all turns out very superficial.
So you need to become what they want. You need to give what they put out.
Following Running on Empty, River failed to capitalize on his Oscar nomination.
He had a cameo in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and starred in I Love You to Death and Dogfight.
But it was his fourth film that proved pivotal. It was director Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho.
It was shot in Portland, Oregon, a couple of hours' drive from the town of River's birth, Madras.
The film had a raw, edgy quality and centered on street life in Portland.
River played a narcoleptic gay street hustler opposite Keanu Reeves,
with whom he'd co-starred a few months earlier in I Love You to Death.
Widespread rumors of drug abuse swirled around the production.
River and many others spent their spare time at the home of Bob Pichlin,
who was an inspiration for one of the film's characters.
Like Van Sant, Pichlin denies having knowledge of any drug-taking,
although he acknowledges the alcohol flowed freely at the house at all-night parties after a long-day shoot.
Bud Montgomery was among those in Pichlin's circle of friends.
He sensed not all was well with River.
He said, watch yourself, because you've got a demon dancing on your shoulder.
I don't know whether he took that to heart or not, evidently not.
You said that out loud to him?
I said, you have a demon dancing on your shoulder, to him, in private.
It was like he was on an emotional rollercoaster.
Sometimes he'd be up, sometimes he'd be down, and then other times he'd be in a melancholy.
And then I met him after my own private Idaho.
I remember it played at the Toronto Film Festival, and he was just completely strung out.
He had lost his energy, his curiosity, his courtesy.
And I don't mean that he had to be courteous.
I mean it's just that, you know, there's a way to treat people, and he wasn't treating people that way.
I think he was just too tired or hungover or something to find the energy to be civil.
And it was sad.
I looked at him that day and I said, here's a guy who really needs probably to get some help.
I said that to myself.
And I guess it was true.
How he got into drugs or what happened, it's hard to say.
It's an old story, you know.
Drugs make you feel like you can do things that the fact is you can't do.
And sooner or later, you either stop using them or you die.
By 1992, River at times seemed like a lost soul, like when he was promoting Sneakers,
a high-tech thriller co-starring Dan Aykroyd.
It's for shooting down extraterrestrial vehicles, and that it's there as a outer space, deep space defense system.
After filming My Own Private Idaho, River's career momentum appeared to stall
with forgettable roles in The Thing Called Love and Silent Tongue.
His next film was Dark Blood, which was fated to go unfinished.
Going in, Dutch director George Slyzer was aware of potential problems with River.
He did know that he had a past.
But when I met him, he was, I would say, reasonable.
And he was a number of times, I would say.
That's in the time I met him before.
This is three months before shooting, roughly.
I mean, he was maybe stoned a few times, but he was, when you could work with him.
Dark Blood was shot mostly in a remote Utah desert.
River and co-star Jonathan Price grew close during filming.
I think he thought he was in Bonovo at that point in his life.
And he wasn't.
Footage of the unfinished film has never been seen publicly until now.
Ironically, River's big death scene was among the last scenes he ever shot.
It's getting dark in here.
We've got to get you to a hospital.
Hold my hand.
According to Dark Blood director George Slyzer, River was both repulsed and drawn to the City of Angels.
That's the way he talked about LA. It's a dirty town.
And I didn't know what he meant, really.
I don't know if he was talking about drugs or he was talking about the first time.
He was talking about the dirty place.
Better get away from this dirty place.
But he wanted to go there at the same time.
Dark Blood filming ended around 7 at night on Saturday, October 30.
River took a studio limo back to the Hotel Nico.
There he met his sister Rain, brother Joaquin and new girlfriend Samantha Mathis.
Hollywood was celebrating Halloween and River Phoenix's hidden demons were ready to dance.
After a few hours of partying in his hotel room, River called for a car.
George Slyzer was also staying at the Hotel Nico.
And I drove up to the hotel, I guess, in the area of 9 or 10 o'clock.
And he was leaving with what I could see in the car with Samantha Mathis and I think his brother and someone I couldn't see who it was in the car.
And I said, another good time, and that was the end.
The foursome made their way into Hollywood.
They reportedly attended a party in the Hollywood Hills before arriving at the Viper Room around midnight.
The club was packed. An all-star band including Johnny Depp, Flea and others took the stage.
The young VIP crowd was living the Hollywood dream.
But for River, it wasn't a dream. It was the harshest reality.
After a long night of partying, River was lured into the men's room by the promise of more drugs.
There he ingested an exotic form of heroin and immediately suffered a severe reaction.
He was given Valium to calm him down.
When that didn't work, Joaquin, Rain and Samantha helped him out of the back door of the club onto Sunset Boulevard where he collapsed.
At 1 10 a.m., Joaquin called 911.
You must get over here, please. You must get over here, please.
Okay, take it easy, okay?
Okay, now if you can get Valium or something, I don't know.
You must get over here, please.
Yes, slow down, okay?
Where is the guy? Please, can you tell me, please?
We have help on the way, all right?
I know. Thank you, guys.
Where's your brother right now?
He's laying on the cement.
Four minutes later, L.A. County paramedic Ray Rebar arrived on the scene.
It's just a short distance from here to the club, so we arrived fairly quickly.
And I was first off, the apparatus looked a little bit closer at him and discovered he was in respiratory arrest.
The other two medics then just went through our standard cardiac arrest protocol and treated him and gave him several different kind of drugs to try and get his heart started.
When we attached our cardiac monitor to him, he was in a flat line, which meant there was no heart activity whatsoever.
So he was clinically dead at the time we found him.
Ambulance arrived. We transferred the person to the ambulance and continued treatment along the way.
I jumped into the ambulance and went from the CPR, the chest compressions, to doing the ventilations, squeezing the bag valve mask and trying to breathe for him.
The ambulance arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at 1 34 on Halloween morning.
Just 17 minutes later, River Jude Phoenix was pronounced dead.
At that instant, a horrible private moment in the life of River Phoenix became a tragic public epitaph.
The River Phoenix died suddenly outside of Hollywood.
Medics first arrived at the scene after being cold.
The Hollywood community is mourning the loss of actor.
The autopsy report showed that River died of acute multiple drug intoxication, including marijuana, Valium, and many times the lethal levels of cocaine and heroin.
A simple chemical explanation for the end of a life so complex, so unusual, so promising, and yet so incomplete.
For his part, River Phoenix offered a chillingly prophetic view of his future in an interview conducted just three days after his 18th birthday.
He was speaking of his movie career, but he might as well have been talking about his life.
My feelings aren't riding on what I'm doing now.
I'm not, I'm not glued to anything, nor do I feel insecure about any changes that might take place.
I welcome an end to this all if that's what should be.
I don't mind that. In fact, I would rather quit while I was ahead.
Yeah, there's no need to overstay your welcome.
When the true Hollywood story continues, in less than a year, Anna Nicole Smith can leap from stripper to superstar.
But the promise of a golden career comes to a screeching halt in a blur of drinking, drugs, and losing legal balance.
And she finds comfort and controversy in the arms of an 80-year-old Texas millionaire.
The end of season clearance.
Our prices are so low, we clear all our winter stock in one hit, including all the top brands.
There's a range of tops priced to go at just $10.
Brakes washable wool trousers, a low $39.95, save $30.
Garrett trail jackets are down to $49.95, save up to $40.
Plus too many tops and shirts to mention at just $20.
The Ed Harry end of season clearance, while stocks last.
When we first tried to catch drink drivers, we introduced random breath testing.
Then we introduced the booze bus.
But now we're better equipped than ever before.
A new command center has been set up to specifically target drink drive hotspots.
Every single police car and bike is now a mobile RBT unit, including laser gun operators.
We now have the resources to operate 24 hours a day and patrol side streets as well as main roads.
So if you're going to drink and drive, chances are you won't escape the net.
Wherever you are.
Drink drive, you'll be sorry.
The Ed Harry End of season clearance
One, two, three, Smiths!
Hey Maureen, I got the full Monty.
Great, stick it in.
Not the film woman, Smiths full Monty.
You know, the potato chip.
Oh.
Come on Maureen, they're brilliant.
Cream cheese, onion, sour cream, bacon, garlic, cheddar cheese.
Gloriously blended into the perfect chip.
They sound delicious.
Say you are.
Really want the full Monty.
Oh, Les.
You sexy thing.
Give me one, Les.
Sorry Maureen, can't be that.
Smiths, they're too good.
The key is inside you, to open your mind.
You know what is out there, your heart can be blind.
Open your eyes and open your mind.
Open your thoughts, don't stay behind.
Nescafe.
Nescafe.
How much would your life change if you were ten minutes early?
Helen.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Gwyneth Paltrow.
I kissed you.
Yeah, I spotted that too.
In a unique romantic comedy about the two different ways one woman's life could go.
Sliding Doors.
Now showing at cinemas everywhere.
An all musical adventure of Xena.
A world of fantasy and illusion you won't believe your ears.
Xena, Saturday on Ten.
Bye Texas, I mean hi Texas.
Yeehaw.
She was a big girl.
Would dream so big, even Texas was not large enough to hold her.
She dreamed of getting out and going far.
But did Anna Nicole Smith go too far?
You look wonderful.
Blessed with a stunning face and flawless skin, she was cursed with an appetite for sex, drugs, money, and above all, fame.
You'll see the Texas millionaire who married her and plunged her into her greatest controversy.
It's absolutely wonderful and fabulous and I'm having a wonderful time.
How could anyone go so quickly from stripper to supermodel to celebrity outcast?
This is the unique story of Anna Nicole Smith, the true Hollywood story.
Anna's mother, Virgie, worked as a deputy sheriff.
A cop who expected to be the boss on the street, Virgie brought stiff rules and discipline home to her kids.
But a strict mother and a growing, stubborn daughter were bound to clash and they did.
It was in 1984 when Anna was in high school that she packed up and moved to Mejia.
Here she began the part of her story the public was eventually told.
I'm from Texas and I'm from a really small town.
I have a really big family but we grew up poor.
I grew up on pinto beans and potatoes.
Anna was 17 when she fell for a 16-year-old cook at Jim's named Billy Smith.
They were married and nine months later their son Daniel was born.
Little Danny was not a healthy baby, says Joe Thompson, who was married to Anna's mother at the time.
When he was six weeks old he had a pretty bad bout and he was in the hospital and suffered a lot of dehydration.
Her baby was sick and her marriage was falling apart.
Her and Billy were supposedly having trouble.
She moved in with us and just stayed at the trailer where we were living.
One day she was telling Virgie and I about the tips that she was making.
She said that she had made $300 tips in a day and I was telling Virgie that I know a lot of Red Lobster but they don't make that kind of money.
But she was making that kind of money dancing in a topless club, an occupation she could not hide forever from a mother who was a cop.
I remember the day I come home from work and I opened the door to the house and I could hear Virgie just crying, I mean just wailing.
And I didn't know what was going on. I come in the house.
It ended up she told me that her and another deputy had went to this place and found her in there and just literally almost drug her out, brought her home.
I kind of joked about it a little bit. I said, you know, what do you want me to do? What can I do?
I said, you want me to go handcuff her to the bed? You know, she's a grown girl. She's going to do what she wanted to do.
Former boyfriend Clay Spyer says Anna had several implant operations. He saw a serious and long lasting side effect from her plastic surgery.
Basically due to her problems which she had had through her cosmetic surgeries, she had a lot of pain and she developed dependencies toward prescription drugs.
She had just developed a pattern of mix and matching different types of prescription drugs and that of course affected her behavior patterns.
Anna made the March 1992 cover of Playboy, posing as a debutante, quite a stretch from selling fried chicken.
And then I did the center fold the day after.
She had to wait two months before she appeared inside the magazine. But when that center fold layout ran, it opened the door to a brand new career.
Playmate of the Month, Miss May, the lone star stunner.
The photos grabbed the attention of powerful image shapers who could turn her into a fashion phenomenon around the world.
But back home in Texas, she already had met a man who could have even more influence over her future.
J. Howard Marshall II had money and power. He knew what he liked and what he did not like.
I'm not going to be trapped. I'm not trying to trap you. All the hell you're talking about.
Marshall made his money in oil, and he was a private man who lived behind gates and kept his wealth a secret.
But most estimates put his fortune in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
When the true Hollywood story returns, a fight over a dead man's millions while Anna struggles to stop her slide.
Few men have dreamed of walking on the moon. Even fewer get the privilege of trying.
I'm in command of the best ship with the best crew that anybody could ask for.
Three men would go beyond their dreams to a place beyond hell.
Houston, we have a problem. The Odyssey is dying. Now the challenge is to make it back.
What are your intentions? I'd like to go home. Apollo 13 premieres 8.30 Sunday.
Every year, one winter's sale is better than the rest, and this is it. The Ed Harry end-of-season clearance.
Our prices are so low, we clear all our winter stock in one hit, including all the top brands.
There's a range of tops priced to go at just $10. Brakes washable wool trousers, a low $39.95, save $30.
Garrett-rail jackets are down to $49.95, save up to $40. Plus too many tops and shirts to mention at just $20.
The Ed Harry end-of-season clearance, while stocks last.
Look out! It's good to rugs annual factory seconds clearance.
We sell only quality rugs. All slightly imperfect rugs are put aside for our annual clearance.
That means huge savings on these brand new rugs. This was great buying at $800.
Mark on the back, out it goes, $299. Latest style was $300.
Minor edge damage. It's out of here for $99. The range is enormous. Get in early, personal shoppers only.
Annual factory second clearance, once a year sale. Rush, good your rugs.
Spring is on the way, but Rowan Jarman are still way down with winter stock, so they're lifting discounts to new heights.
Save up to half price on all the famous sports brands. It's a winter clearance with savings up to half price at all five super stores for five days only at Rowan Jarman.
Where have you been? Now I'll be late. Don't forget to get Pookie her favorite snack tonight.
And make sure you clean her brush. Make sure you clean Pookie's brush.
New lipra invisible won't leak. Good girl, Pookie. So you'll never get caught out.
In my busy life, 5AD is the radio station that's easy to wake up to.
Easy to work to and easy to relax to. 5AD is my station. Unwind and take it easy with Adelaide's easy mix. 5AD FM 102.3.
At this point, I think I would like to introduce Anna Nicole Smith, our 1993 Playmate of the Year.
Playboy boss Hugh Hefner gave Anna Nicole Smith the magazine's highest honor. He said her resemblance to Marilyn Monroe was one reason she was picked.
The parallels are fascinating. Even the dress is a little reminiscent.
But the link to a screen legend was not the only reason Hefner crowned her Playmate of the Year.
If the cover looks a little bit like a guest ad and if the title of the pictorial is Guess Who? That's not an accident.
Her link to a lucrative fashion empire was another reason Anna had hopped to the top of the bunny list.
In the months since her first Playboy spread, Anna had starred in a groundbreaking ad campaign for Guess jeans, which made her a worldwide celebrity.
That fame, her new look, even her new name were all owed to the head of the Guess empire, Paul Marciano, who spotted her first centerfold.
And it was in that issue that Paul Marciano, who is with us here today, sitting next to Anna, saw her.
At the time, Anna was the apple of the Guess jeans man's eye.
After her fall, Marciano would cut off every tie to her, even refusing permission to show her ads.
After New York Magazine ran this unflattering cover, she sued, saying the photo made her look like a cream puff.
That suit was settled out of court, but another legal dispute was harder to resolve.
I went to a club last night and they would not let me in because my nanny did not have her ID. So if the club is watching...
Anna's ex-nanny, Maria Serrato, was claiming Anna sexually assaulted her and was demanding $2 million.
That charge surfaced in February 1994. Less than two weeks later, Anna and a man named Daniel Ross, her companion at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, overdosed on tequila and prescription pills, police reports said.
Anna spent three days recovering in L.A.'s Cedar Sinai Medical Center. Her spokesperson claimed migraine headaches.
The double barrel blast of bad publicity put her modeling career in a tailspin.
Anna and Howard Marshall were married at the White Dove Wedding Chapel in Houston on June 27, 1994.
The bride had a 22-carat diamond ring on her finger. She was 63 years younger than her groom.
The next time she wore her wedding gown in public would be at her husband's funeral.
At 90 years old, he was hospitalized with pneumonia and coming to the end of his very long life.
With a series of wobbly signatures during the previous three years, the old millionaire had signed over control of his fortune to his son, Pierce Marshall, who cut off Anna cold.
Pierce Marshall refused to pay millions of dollars in mortgages, checks, and credit card bills signed by his father.
He also put limits on Anna's visits with his father. The battle with a stepson twice her age made Anna miserable.
She was reportedly hospitalized for depression in late spring of 1995.
The strain was breaking her by the time she appeared on the Howard Stern Show and spoke about her dying husband that August.
It's appreciation for him getting me out of the gutter, for him helping me and my son.
It's more like a medical thing. I love him for it. Really?
I would never marry anybody unless something had happened to him.
Just two days later, Howard Marshall died in this Houston hospital.
His death sparked another clash between Anna and Pierce Marshall, who planned to cremate his father.
Anna refused and held her own funeral service while they bickered over Howard's remains.
She wore her white wedding gown and sang, Wind Beneath My Wings.
While her Texas attorneys geared up to go to battle over Howard Marshall's estate,
a judge in Los Angeles awarded ex-nanny Maria Cerrado more than $800,000 because Anna had not followed court orders in that sexual assault suit.
In the wake of that award, Anna said she was broke. She could not even pay her utility bills.
Then, in November 1995, she was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital in L.A.
Her publicist admitted prescription pills were the cause.
Her hunger for fame, fortune, and the fast lane helped mold Anna Nicole Smith into a wealthy, larger-than-life figure.
Ultimately, however, it was this same passionate craving that drove her to the brink of celebrity oblivion.
Coming up, Christian Slater moves to Hollywood and soars to fame.
Everybody's sort of looking at me. It's pretty amazing. I don't get it at all.
And later, Christian stumbles and falls.
I think at that point people realized, OK, he's starting to go over the top a little bit.
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Hey, Maureen, I got the full Monty.
Great. Stick it in.
Not the film woman. Smith's full Monty. You know, the potato chip.
Oh.
Come on, Maureen. They're brilliant. Cream cheese, onion, sour cream, bacon, garlic, cheddar cheese. Gloriously blended into the perfect chip.
They sound delicious.
So you are.
We want the full Monty, eh?
Oh, Liz.
You sexy thing.
Give me one, Liz.
Sorry, Maureen.
Smith's. They're too good.
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There comes a time in life.
I want you to tell me the secret of management.
Lock the door. Turn off the lights.
Are you sure you're ready for this?
I am so ready, sir.
Because this secret will change your life. He's ready at 8 o'clock Thursday on 10.
He's gone from prime suspect to star witness. More and more Thursday on 10.
Christian Slater's rowdy behavior has placed him in the ranks of Hollywood's most famous bad boys.
He's joined acting legends Errol Flynn, Robert Mitchum and James Dean, who were known as much for their decadent mischief off screen as for the roles they played.
You know, like James Dean, you know, I mean, he lived fast and died young and that sort of thing gets implanted in your brain somehow and you want to try and match that.
Once referred to as Generation X's best actor, Christian Slater has followed in the footsteps of his notorious predecessors.
Christian's habit of romancing his co-stars, his repeated run-ins with the law and his highly publicized trips to rehab have kept him in the headlines, much to the delight of gossip columnists and star watchers.
But on August 11, 1997, Christian's addicts turned serious.
The 28-year-old actor was arrested after a violent drug-induced brawl in a swanked Los Angeles penthouse.
During the arrest of Christian Slater, he became involved in an altercation with the arresting officers.
The incident shocked industry insiders and fans alike, who speculated that Christian was yet another young talent ruined by his own celebrity.
Can this extremely gifted actor, the star of Heathers, Robin Hood, True Romance and Broken Arrow, control the personal demons that threaten his career?
What's next for Christian Slater is entirely up to him. Boy, he is at a crossroads.
Success, money, danger and fame. The life of Christian Slater is a true Hollywood story.
Christian Slater always had a flair for the dramatic.
Born August 18, 1969 in New York City, Christian was named after Fletcher Christian, Marlon Brando's character in Mutiny on the Bounty.
He was raised in a family where make-believe was stock in trade. Celebrity news reporter Tanya Hart.
His mother is a casting director, very successful casting director. His father was a soap opera actor. His brother is an actor. So, you know, it's like a family in show business.
Christian's father, Michael Hawkins, played the original Frank Ryan on the popular daytime drama Ryan's Hope. Hawkins also appeared on Broadway.
My father, he was a pretty wild and crazy guy. When I'd hang with him backstage at theaters, that's where a lot of these characters come from for me.
Christian's parents divorced when he was five and Mary Jo got custody of the boy. Christian often accompanied Mary Jo on her casting sessions.
In 1978, she was invited to be a guest on The Joe Franklin Show, a local TV talk program.
Franklin spotted Christian in the audience and intrigued, called him up on stage.
The kid comes up and I find out once he's on the panel that this young boy is the son of Mary Jo Slater, eight-year-old Christian Slater with a very strong stage presence, a wonderful smile, very charismatic appeal.
Franklin wasn't the only one to notice the boy's appeal.
They say, Mr. Franklin, there's a phone call for that little boy. So I said, little boy can't take the phone. But the mother went to the phone. It was Dick Van Dyke on the phone.
Van Dyke was casting a national tour of The Music Man and offered Christian the role of Winthrop Peru. The nine-year-old Christian was elated.
With little guidance, Christian quickly succumbed to the vices of life on the road.
I guess Dick Van Dyke was a drinker and, you know, and he got pretty close to Van Dyke and that was the beginning of the end for him.
In 1985, at the age of 16, Christian made his movie debut in the teen drama The Legend of Billie Jean.
His performance as an innocent kid running from the police caught the eye of director Jacques Anod, Christian's mother, Mary Jo Slater.
I know the director told me he saw three thousand other young boys. To me, sets him apart from the masses.
Christian was selected for the role of the young monk and headed for Italy to shoot the name of the rose. His co-star was the legendary Sean Connery.
That was pretty amazing. I mean, that was, like I said, that really was a dream come true. Sean Connery, he was somebody I grew up with, just died alive as a kid.
In November of 1988, Christian was arrested for drunk driving, fined $916 and ordered to attend 20 AA meetings.
Despite his growing disrespect for authority, Christian's talent prevailed.
There was no one to say, Christian, you've got to straighten out. And the industry never said, Christian, we're not going to put up with you like this.
The film industry had picked Christian Slater as its next golden boy. In 1989, he was offered the role that would catapult him to full-fledged teen heartthrob.
I don't really like your friends either.
In the sinister comedy, Heathers, Christian played the diabolical J.D., a sexy psychopath with the nasty habit of murdering his classmates.
On December 28, 1989, Christian and his friends hit the clubs, then the streets. Under the influence of alcohol and underage, Christian raced down trendy Santa Monica Boulevard.
It was only a matter of time before he had the Los Angeles Police Department on his tail. Christian tried to outrun the cops.
I think at the time he was driving the car, he thought he was Batman and his friend was Robin, and he was having a ball.
Without a Batmobile, Christian couldn't make a clean getaway. He sped into a dead end and slammed the car into a telephone pole.
Driving 80 in a 35-mile zone, getting into an area that's just a fence there, so he has to get out of the car.
And what do you do? You don't just turn around to the cops and say, OK, sorry. He gets out and tries to climb the fence.
Christian sprinted from the scene and scaled up a chain-link fence. The police close behind pursued him on foot.
And when the police tried to come and apprehend him, he got pretty wild.
Putting up a fight, Christian turned and kicked the officer hard in the face with his cowboy boot.
After a brief struggle, he was subdued and subsequently arrested. Christian had violated probation from his 1988 drunk driving incident.
The judge ordered the actor to pay a fine of $1,400 and to serve 10 days in jail.
The 20-year-old actor was also advised to check into a rehabilitation center.
Just 10 days after Christian emerged from rehab, Jeff Murphy cast him in Young Guns 2.
Christian was impressed by his illustrious co-stars, Kiefer Sutherland and Emilio Estevez.
I was a little nervous, I guess I'd have to say the first week, but when I started to get to know all these guys, they made me feel completely comfortable, you know.
Coming up, the brutal rampage that changed his life forever.
I have decided to not run and sit here and take the consequences.
And Christian Slater goes to jail.
Coming up next on the panel, we've got Cheryl Kerner, she's coming in.
We've got Alex Dimitriados, who's got a great new film out at the moment, and Annalise Brackensieck. Make sure you join us.
Hello, ambulance service.
I need an ambulance immediately.
What address?
13, my little boy is not breathing. I just pulled him out of the port. He's turning blue.
Check his airway. Is his airway clear?
I don't know what to do.
The ambulance is coming. It's very important. You'll need to breathe for him. Any response whatsoever?
Yes, yes. He's breathing.
He's breathing? Okay. All right. Keep him over on his side and the ambulance is going to be there very, very soon.
I can hear them. I can hear them.
All right.
There's someone here.
All right. You let them straight in.
When seconds count, there's no second chances. Cover yourself today for the cost of ambulance care. Call the Ambulance Cover Hotline now on 13-62-72.
You're here to see the computer you can talk to.
Good afternoon, Wilford.
Do you know how many words this understands? 2,800,648 words. 14,800,000.
You are sure this is all about her?
You're a jade!
You're wasting your time.
I know. You've all been looking at me and I'm too technical.
You're not too technical. Just ugly.
You two have a bizarre relationship.
We're 90s Robin Hood.
Shooting Fish.
So where are we off to next?
The Twelve Apostles.
What's the best way?
All you do is drive up this road for a bit. Turn right at the gallery. When you get to the restaurant, take a left. Go over the big hill and follow the wiggly road. And there are the big rocks on your left.
Or there's the scenic route. You go through the rainforest. It's down past them.
You'll love every piece of Victoria.
After River Phoenix died of a drug overdose, the role of the reporter in Interview with a Vampire was offered to Christian.
Phoenix's death deeply affected Christian, who took the role on the condition that his salary be donated to Phoenix's favorite charities.
He was saying that he looked at the death of River Phoenix and thought, wow, but for the grace of God there would have gone he, Christian, had he not straightened out his life.
But Christian, like River, had a taste for risky experiences.
On December 23, 1994, Christian was arrested at New York's Kennedy Airport after a security official examining Christian's black nylon carry-on discovered a 9-millimeter Beretta handgun.
The 25-year-old actor spent the night in jail at the Queens Criminal Court. He was arraigned on a charge of criminal possession of a weapon and sentenced to three days community service.
Christian played the hero in his next project, the action flick Hard Rain, and doubled as associate producer. At the same time, he began dating fashion editor Michelle Jonas.
He also began drinking and using drugs again, a volatile mixture that, considering his past, could explode at any moment.
That moment came when Christian was only 27 years old on August 10, 1997.
Based on the official police report, here are the events as they happened. Michelle Jonas phoned Christian and invited him to the apartment of Petra Brando, Marlon Brando's stepdaughter.
Also at the apartment, in Westwood near Beverly Hills, was Jacques Peterson, Brando's boyfriend.
Late in the night, Peterson and Christian began to drink tequila shots. Eventually, Brando and Peterson went to bed, leaving Christian and Jonas in the living room.
Christian was inebriated and doing cocaine. At approximately 7 a.m., Brando and Peterson were roused from bed by the sound of screaming.
They hurried to the living room to find an enraged Christian sitting on top of Jonas, beating her in the face with his fists and screaming,
You German bitch, you're going to kill us all. Peterson attempted to pull Christian off Jonas.
Christian grabbed Peterson around the waist and bit him in the ribcage, causing a large wound.
Peterson managed to push Slater into the hallway. Christian, furious, yelled and pounded on the door.
Hearing the noise, the building manager sent custodian Jose Luis Castro to the 14th floor.
When Castro confronted Christian, the actor kicked him in the stomach and fled into the stairwell.
The police, who had been called by a neighbor, arrived on the scene around 7.30 a.m. on August 11.
Officers J. Flores and Ronald Benke found Christian on the 8th floor, swinging his arms and making incoherent statements like,
I love you, and the Germans are all coming and they will kill us.
When the officers attempted to handcuff Christian, things nearly flew out of control.
According to Officer Benke, Christian pushed Officer Flores onto the stairs.
He then grabbed the officer's gun with his unsecured right hand, attempting to pull the weapon from its holster.
Officer Benke then applied an upper body control hold on Christian, causing him to lose consciousness.
But Christian wasn't through. When he awoke a few minutes later, he kicked and struggled with the officers,
who were forced to apply a hobble leg restraint around Christian's ankles.
He was then escorted to the patrol car and after a brief stop at the Santa Monica Medical Center for treatment,
taken to the West Los Angeles Police Station.
At the station, Christian confessed that he had been drinking for several days and that he had snorted two lines of cocaine before assaulting Jonas.
He also stated that he had only slept a couple of hours over the past days.
He assured officers that he could not remember anything after taking the cocaine,
including assaulting Jonas, biting Peterson, kicking Castro, and struggling with the police.
Christian was put in the Pacific Jail. The next day, the news was out.
Christian Slater was taken into custody between the ninth and the eighth floor.
During the arrest of Christian Slater, he became involved in an altercation with the arresting officers.
The defendant is placed on summary probation on the following terms and conditions.
The defendant served 90 days in jail. The jail time is to commence before January 10, 1998.
But Christian was a movie star with a new film due out.
In an act of leniency, the judge moved Christian's jail time back,
so that he could attend the premiere of Hard Rain on January 14, 1998.
At the event, Christian kept a stiff upper lip.
Well, these are certainly tricky moments in life, but I think we all have gone through bad times.
And one of the things about that is it helps to open your eyes to all the good stuff that you've really been shutting out and avoiding.
His co-stars were supportive.
I hope he just looks forward to the future. I wish him the very best.
He's a really wonderful, kind man, so I wish any good things for him.
The next day, Christian headed to the La Verne City Jail, a low-security private jail 30 miles outside of Los Angeles.
Some snickered at what they called a luxurious facility.
Christian is hardly doing hard time. He's been washing the policemen's cars. He's been serving pizza for guests.
The humiliating TV images of Christian performing the duties of a convict did not last long.
On March 14, 1998, after just 59 days of imprisonment, Christian was released for good behavior.
I spent my life trying to live up to a projected image, and I think I just lost myself.
I made some mistakes. I was in the process of cleaning the mess up and taking responsibility for that.
Most people don't believe Christian's career will be negatively affected by his jail time.
He's got a great career ahead of him. He's got a lot of range. As far as I'm concerned, I'd work with him, you know, tomorrow.
I don't think nor do I see any reason that anyone should think that it will have any effect on his career at all.
But it won't be easy.
It's very difficult to predict the future of people with addictive personalities,
because they don't change. The propensity to be addicted is always there. It can't be completely removed.
He doesn't need to get headlines in that way, and it's only going to ultimately hurt him somehow.
Even if it doesn't jeopardize his career, he may get killed, you know.
It will be up to Christian Slater to walk away from the villainous addiction that is played out in a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde.
If I were going to paint an accurate portrait of Christian Slater in that moment, it would have been, boy, lost.
Lost for now, perhaps. But hopefully Christian Slater will emerge from the drama ready for a new start.
I think Christian has fulfilled a certain part of the romantic image that he once had of what a movie star was.
I think he's now going to have to fulfill the second half of his fantasy, which is to be in great movies. And I think he can do it.
This program proudly brought to you by Ed Harry's end of season clearance.
This program is brought to you by the new Toyota RAV4, the most wanted compact four-wheel drive.
Thank you.
I almost got really caught out there. Welcome to the panel. Tom's away. He's holidaying at the moment.
But let's just go quickly to the panel. You all know them now.
A man, well, if you listen to police radio, you hear his name all the time.
Glenn Robbins. Thanks, Robbie.
And of course, Kate Langbrook.
Have you seen Beauty and the Beast? This is how they do it.
We have a very special guest tonight, and I'll explain who she is.
You hosted Sex Life. Yes, I did.
You were one of the reporters on Sex Life. We saw that tape.
And Mike Munro, if you can just come up here. Dr. Cindy Pan.
And well, I like to call him Santo. Santo Chilaro.
I don't know about everybody else, but without Tom here, I feel like misbehaving.
I thought it'd be cheeky.
Can I just ask, how did you get the job on Sex Life? How does that happen?
Does someone come along and say, we want you to do television, but you've got to talk about sex all the time.
How did it happen? Well, I was at work one day, and Tim Cluckers, who's the executive producer of Sex Life, rang me at work.
Where do you work? Well, this is at my old...