Anna Nicole Smith was famous for being herself. She led an extravagant and loving lifestyle of her own creation. She was constantly in the tabloids related to her mood swings, slurred speech, choice of male partners, and her larger-than-life personality. Her sudden death on February 8, 2007 (Anna Nicole Smith 2007), made the public wonder who this voluptuous woman really was.
Anna Nicole Smith, born as Vickie Lynn Hogan, never seemed to be happy in her surroundings as a child. She continually changed her name (Anna Nicole Smith, 2007), trying to be someone else. She used this defense mechanism to escape the emotional inhibitors present in her childhood home. Anna’s half-sister reported that her father had sexually and physically abused Anna and her sisters (msnbc.com, 2007). Anna’s mother took her out of that environment and she ended up penniless in a trailer park. Anna always seemed to want better and would do whatever it took to achieve her goals.
As described in Cognitive/Social Theory (Kowalski & Westen, 2005), Anna felt that by creating a different personality, she would escape her reality and achieve these ultimate dream goals of stardom. She believed that by mirroring certain overly exuberant behaviors, she could achieve her dream of heaven. Most people who watch television would say that she strove to be the next Marilyn Monroe. This is called behavioral outcome expectation (Kowalski & Westen, 2005). The self-efficacy expectation explains that Anna knew that she was in control and that she was capable of achieving these goals. She set high personal goals for herself to turn her life into a dream that she had always hoped would come true.
Humanistic theory explains that personality is created by one’s environment and social experiences. Rousseau clearly states (Kowalski & Westen, 2005), “man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains”. (pages 447-448). Anna was a compassionate and life-loving person, but she felt stifled by society and the economy. She found employment in all work settings, from a chicken fry to Wal-mart to a strip club, to achieve her goals.
While working at the chicken fry, she married a boy a year her junior; she was sixteen years old at the time. They divorced shortly after; she also had a son by this man. Anna Nicole began to strip naked in a club, while she sent photos of her body to Playboy magazine (Anna Nicole Smith, 2007), trying to break into the Hollywood scene. She was aware of her true self, but she was willing to delve into a false self to escape her bondage (Kowalski & Westen, 2005). She wanted to be accepted and loved by everyone, literally. Anna met an oil magnate while she was stripping and she married him years later. This marriage and relationship was extremely contentious because the gentleman was eighty-nine at the time, she was only twenty-seven. Many, including the man’s son, thought of Anna as a gold digger, but Anna claimed that she was self-sufficient and that she truly loved this man (Goldman, 2001). Once again, Anna was making a name for herself and being placed in the tabloids. She was continually creating an ideal self. The presence of an ideal self is the complete absorption of the false self and the complete suppression of one’s true needs and personality (Kowalski & Westen, 2005).
Anna was widowed only a year later. Her husband’s son took Anna to court, preventing her from getting money. She demanded that she loved him, and he loved her. She wanted to be taken care of for her (Goldman, 2001). The case was still dancing in and out of the court system at the time of Anna’s death.
Anna’s death was sudden for everyone. However, she suffered from depression continuously. She did not hide from the public the fact that she was taking antidepressants. She had been shown on television obviously mixing alcohol with antidepressants, slurring her words and waving her arms in the air (msnbc.com, 2007). Anna especially suffered from depression near her passing. She had lost her firstborn son, twenty years old, and had given birth to a girl, only a few months before. Anna had not said who the father of her daughter was; this was discovered after Anna’s death (Anna Nicole’s Afterlife, 2007). Although she wanted to paint the tabloids with her life, Anna seemed to want this part of her life to be kept secret. She seemed like she wanted something different for her new family.
The humanist theory best supports the personality of Anna Nicole Smith. Her childhood was full of unavoidable situations around her. Her adulthood was built on self-created drama and stardom. Anna herself buried her true self when she was a little girl, renaming herself several times until she finally settled on Anna Nicole Smith. She was willing to share her ups and downs with the nation through the ever-honest tabloids, and she never flinched when she was exploited. The one trait that Anna never hid was her big, loving southern heart from her. She wanted the world to love her and remember her for who she was and where she came from.
References
The afterlife of Anna Nicole. (2007, June 4). Maclean’s, Retrieved October 18, 2007, from Academic
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The revealing book of Anna Nicole’s half sister. (2007, April 12). Msnbc.com, accessed October 19,
2007, from http://www.msnbc.com.
Anne Nicole Smith. (2007, February 17). Economist, Retrieved October 18, 2007, from
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Goldman, D. (2001, March). The millionaire and the playmate. Biography, 5(3), 28. Consulted
October 18, 2007, from the Academic Search Premier database.
Kowalski, RM & Westen, D. (2005). psychology; The study of mental processes and
Behavior, (4th edition). United States: John Wily & Sons, Inc.