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Baby Girl Proposal - For Merge
Baby Girl Proposal - For Merge
We have all been a part of the story at one point or another in the last few months.
We’ve all been mesmerized by the seductive curling of her ruby red lips, the flinging of
those platinum blonde tresses captured at 100 frames per second, the electromagnetic
glamour that brought both billionaires and average Joe’s to their knees time and time
again. Anna Nicole Smith was a phenomenon: model, actress, playmate, wife, mother,
lover, fighter and above all things, a star, a Texas girl who made it big time and time
itself.
And now she is gone, after only 39 years, her death even more of an enigma than
her exploits while among the living, a mystery tens of millions are attempting to unravel
within a media graveyard of spent of flashbulbs, hour-long specials and panels of forensic
experts, a mystery that only a handful of hearts on this earth truly understand. One of
those souls, Maurice Bright hope (aka Big Moe), has finally found his moment to speak.
Anna’s one-man personal security force, confidant, and “big brother,” Big Moe
was the one who found her body in that now infamous suite of the Hard Rock Hotel. It
was he who delivered her body to the Bahamas for burial, and he who valiantly saved her
from nearly drowning to death just months before. And it is he who now, after her death,
will connect so many of the dots left lingering in the public consciousness amidst a
maelstrom of controversy, rumors and accusations. His words will free some and
incriminate others, but they will most importantly tell the whole truth about an American
Big Moe had no idea of what he was in for when he arrived for his first day of
guarding Anna Nicole Smith. The cameras were rolling as a newly svelte Anna posed for
nearly ten hours straight to promote Trimspa, the dietary supplement that had helped her
to shed several years worth of poundage in just a few months time. Prior to this, Smith,
the former Guess model, B-movie actress and wife to billionaire Howard Marshall, had
had two celebrated seasons of her own reality show, The Anna Nicole Smith Show on the
E network that had brought millions of new fans into her stable of stardom.
But all Moe wanted was a security job. And at 6’6 and 275 lbs., he more than
more than met the specifications. But ten hours later, when Moe found himself carrying
the spent starlet more than 100 yards from that shoot of surf and sand all the way up to
her lavish South Beach suite, both woman and man quickly learned that this wasn’t going
to a typical star/bodyguard relationship. In the months and years that followed Moe
would become a part of Smith’s minute inner-circle, consisting of her late son Daniel,
longtime lover, Howard K. Stern and Kimmie, the butch personal assistant with Anna’s
Later to be joined by the charismatic lensman Larry Birkhead, this quintet would
follow Smith on her journey back into the spotlight, one filled with champagne evenings,
lavish parties, celebrity clashes and individual intimacies with the woman craved by so
many but fed to a such a select view. In the end it would be Moe who would stood most
firm in supporting his employer not only as protector, but as “big brother” and friend
through the flames of jealousy, deception and Anna’s most crippling loss of Daniel, the
20 year-old son who depended on her as if her as if he had just slid out of the womb.
Through Moe’s eyes the reader will see the answers to so many questions posed
by pundits, journalists and fans, as well as never before seen personal photographs of
Anna in her last days. They will also get a glimpse of an Anna unlike the pretty face they
have come to know, a portrait of a cunning but sensitive woman on a constant search for
love, understanding and most of all, loyalty. Following Moe from his first day on the job
all the way to his Anna’s burial, Big Moe’s words will serve as the definitive document of
Anna Nicole Smith’s final moments, a testament to what was fact and fiction in her
portrayal by the media, family and the man who would do anything for her, Howard K.
Stern.
About the Authors
A graduate of Northeastern University, Big Moe played basketball for his alma mater
before a professional run overseas for teams in Ireland, England and Portugal. He is a
trained firefighter for the Miami Fire Department Big Moe and served as personal
security for rappers Missy Elliott, DMX, Busta Rhymes, as well as for attorney and
former The View personality, Star Jones. As a result of his time with Anna
Nicole Smith he has recently appeared on Entertainment Tonight, GMA,
Larry King Live, "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren, Geraldo,
Access Hollywood and on XM radio satellite radio.
Kenji Jasper
Kenji Jasper is the author of the novels Dark, Dakota Grand and Seeking Salamanca
Mitchell. His articles have appeared in VIBE, Essence, The Village Voice, The Charlotte
Observer, and The Chicago Sun-Times among many other publications. His first work of
nonfiction, The House on Childress Street, was published in January of 2006. He is a
regular commentator for National Public Radio is currently shopping several screenplays
and pilots in Hollywood.
Marketing
Following the media frenzy surrounding Anna Nicole’s Smith’s death, this book will
Talk shows
Radio programs
Introduction
While delivering Anna’s body to the Bahamas amidst a media frenzy, Moe looks back on
his life as Anna’s protector and friend, a touching passage filled with regret, sorrow and
vivid reflection.
The Job
Moe and Anna begin their journey towards friendship as he serves as her protector on an
East Coast promotional tour for Trimspa. He learns about Anna’s obsession with
Marilyn Monroe, her turbulent relationship with her mother, who only fought for the
rights to the body out of guilt for what she didn’t do for her daughter while she was alive
and Anna’s love for her fans, which translated into her often putting her own safety at
risk to sign autographs, to meet fans to perpetrate an public image of excess,
lasciviousness and stardom.
Strike a Pose
Loving to be seen, Moe reflects on his struggles to keep Anna out of trouble while under
the influence of the two things she loved most: the cameras and her Cristal. In his first
few months on the job, Moe finds himself tangling with Kobe Bryant, Kid Rock and P.
Diddy in attempts to keep Anna from being taken advantage of amidst the glamour of
The Kentucky Derby, The World Music Awards and during a twoweek stay in Las
Vegas. She also begins to abuse drugs ranging from marijuana to cocaine.
The Clique
Moe describes, in detail, the three individuals who Anna trusted the most in her final
years: Her son, Daniel, her longtime sycophantic lover, Howard K. Stern, who would
have never done anything to hurt her and Kimmie, her lesbian assistant who was so in
love with her superstar boss that she had her face tattooed on her arm. This trio often
found itself battling it out through power plays and manipulation for Anna’s attention,
and encouraging the starlets drug use.
Larry
Often suspected to be the father of Anna’s second child, Larry Birkhead was a downand
out photographer who conned his way into Anna’s innercircle after a chance meeting at
the Kentucky Derby. In the time that followed, Birkhead sought to control his new meal
ticket by keeping her drunk and high in public settings, and by seducing her in private.
Moe struggled to convince Anna of the trouble that Birkhead was, especially after he
became her sole supplier for her drug habit, but she would not listen, until it was too late.
Girls, Girls, Girls
Moe opens up about Anna Nicole’s bisexuality and the nights she spent with Courtney
Love, her assistant Kimmie, and several other lovely ladies. At the same time Anna
manufactured vicious feuds with then realityTV competitor Jessica Simpson, The
View’s Star Jones, actress Jamie Lee Curtis and many others.
The Gift
Anna Nicole Smith’s true talent was seduction. She knew how to get what she wanted
out of any man whether it was Howard K. Stern, Las Vegas Hotel owner Joe Maloof,
rapper Kanye West, ER star Mekhi Phifer or a countless number of others. More
describes Anna’s techniques for manipulating her targets and his theories on what has
made her an American icon before and after her death.
The Fall
The death of her son Daniel drops Anna Nicole into an abyss of depression. Though no
longer her bodyguard, Moe travels to Anna’s home in the Bahamas to help Howard K.
Stern care for her as she battles with the demons of her loss, her complex relationship
with her departed son and a growing addiction to prescription drugs that Moe struggles to
bring a stop to.
The End
Moe describes, in detail, the final day of Anna Nicole’s life from his point of view,
leading up to the moment he discovers her dead in her hotel room.
The Lies
Moe disassembling many of the public’s beliefs about Anna Nicole, names
who he thinks the father of her second child is, and the affect that Anna had
on him as both a friend and employee.
Epilogue
In closing, Moe explains why he returned to being a firefighter, why he is no
longer a personal bodyguard and how he would like the world to remember
Anna Nicole Smith.
INTRODUCTION
1.
Getting up early is part of the job. It goes hand in hand with staying up late or
turning in early or any other part of the client’s habits. You adjust. You do whatever it
takes to keep them safe and secure. That’s why they’re paying you.
My colleagues have always told me to never get personal. You do the job and you
go home. But I’m just a personable kind of guy. I get involved.
It’s a little after three in the morning. The news goes on and on about her killing
herself, about all these drugs, about her being suicidal. But I know that’s not the truth.
When I saved her life she thanked me. And she said it like she meant it. She is not gone
because she wanted it that way, though she was troubled. She said she kept hearing
Daniel calling for her.
I put my pants on. Then the shirt. Then tie. Comb hair. Brush teeth. Rinse.
Check watch. Time to roll. The ME (Medical Examiner) is all the way out in Broward
Country. That’s the boonies. The sticks. Bottom line: Nowhere near the city. Baby girl
is waiting. I have to take her home. All I’m getting for this is a plane ticket and the
promise of a few hot meals. Bodyguards don’t work for that cheap. But a friend does.
I keep hearing that splash, all those months before when I was upstairs playing
with the laptop. I knew that she’d been depressed almost everyday. Daniel wasn’t even
in the ground yet. And they had her on that prescription for the Csection. I was just
glad that she’d come outside instead of staying in her room all day holding on to that life
size picture of the boy, like a little girl might to one of those teddy bears big enough to
smother her. I was glad that she was going to spend that day in a floating chair getting
tan, taking in the sun and trying to be thankful that she had a brand new baby to take care
of.
So when I heard the splash I thought that she was just playing around, doing a
cannonball or something like that. But then I hear Howard scream. She had fainted and
fallen in.
I ran down and saw her at the bottom, ten feet down. I jumped in with all my
clothes on, kicking my feet and crawling through the bottom, pushing through the stream
of brown coming from underneath her, chunks of it touching my face as I got to the
bottom and grabbed her. I pulled her up and out and got her on the deck. She wasn’t
breathing.
I started CPR. I pulled her head back to create the airway and then did the mouth
tomouth, then the chest compressions. Water came out of her like a fountain and she
was back with us again. She told me “thank you” up in her room when I laid her down.
With everything that had happened she still wanted to be here.
It’s 4:30 when I get to the ME’s office. But you would think it was four in the
afternoon. There are cameras and faces of every kind, type and culture you can think of.
They all want their piece of her, even now. And I can’t protect her anymore. Even once
I’m inside all I can do is wait for the other two guys, so that we can put her in hearse and
finally take her home.
I didn’t know what to think on that first day, that morning when they brought me
down to where she was. The wife and I had seen her on her show on E. As a matter of
fact we’d watched most of the first two seasons. But she was chunkier back then. Now
she was slimmer, maybe 140 or 150, standing in front of the camera, that ocean water
crashing against her. Hourafterhour of smiling and laughing and jumping around. I
know I couldn’t do it.
The photographer didn’t get tired though. He could’ve kept shooting for a whole
day more if he needed to . But I could tell that it was taking its toll on her. As the hours
went by there were these little cracks in her excitement, so small that nobody out in
magazine land would ever notice, so small that the hairstylist and makeup lady would
barely pay attention. But I could see them, even though I didn’t know why.
But when it’s over, when I walked up the beach and we were introduced, she told
me how tired she was. And me being me, I picked her up and carried her. I was 6’6,
275, and fresh out fire training. She wasn’t much more than a paperweight to me.
She didn’t say a word all the way up to her hotel room, not in the elevator, not
even when I got her through the door. But once I laid her on her bed she asked me to
stay, her breasts pressed together to create a perfect line of cleavage, her eyes suddenly
alive with that same energy she had out in front of the lenses. She asked me to watch a
movie with her. I agreed.
I don’t remember what it was, but while we’re laying there she started asking me
questions.
“What kind of girls do you like?”
I told her I like my women thick.
“I used to be thick.”
I told her that I knew, but that she still looked good.
“You know I love black guys,” she said. “You ever been with a white girl?”
I explained that I went to college in Boston and that I played basketball in Ireland,
places where a black man didn’t have a whole lot of choices. But I had needs. And I
took care of them.
“So I guess you want to sleep with me then?” she says, flashing all of her teeth to
run her tongue across them. “This is your chance of a lifetime.”
I had a feeling that it was coming to that. She and I all alone up here. She as
poopedout princess looking for someone to put her to sleep. And me being the kind of
big black man to help her with that. Except for one thing. I was, am and always will be,
a professional.
“You know what babygirl,” I said. “I’m here for business. And besides, I think of
you as a sister.”
She paused for a moment and kind of exhaled, her smile fading into an expression
of comfort. Then, out of nowhere, a single tear came down from her right eye. Then she
turned over and went straight to sleep. It had been a test, to see if she could trust me, to
see if I could withstand the charm that had made her so famous. And I had passed with
flying colors.
The hearse gets a Broward County police escort as we leave the ME’s office. The
reporters and fans are right behind us, trailing in cars and vans, and some even on foot.
The police cruisers and motorcycles flash their lights and wail their sirens all the way to
the Dade County border, where they fan off like soldiers in a ceremony, making way for
The MiamiDade County team that will travel with us all the way to the plane.
I still can’t believe that she’s gone, but it’s slowly sinking in. I saved her once but
I wasn’t meant to do it again. That just wasn’t in the cards. The same thing with Daniel.
She kept saying that she heard him calling her. Now they’re together. I know that.
From the day I met her there were only three people in the world that I felt like
Anna trusted. Just in case your wondering, her mother is not on that list. Daniel, her
eldest son, was the closest one to her, followed by Howard and then Kimmie, and after
enough time and circumstance, me.
Daniel
When I first me Daniel he was about 16 going on 17. He had about a year left in
high school, but he was being homeschooled at that time because I remember the tutors
would call in to make sure he’d done his homework. He was incredibly shy. Did not like
the cameras at all. Whenever the cameras were around he would try and hide behind me.
I’m a good target to hide behind because I’m a massive guy.
Daniel was very intelligent, but totally dependent on his mother. Example: The
boy had a cellphone he didn’t know how to use. He used to like to pace all the time. I
used to spend a lot of time with him in his room. He liked to play video games. He
would master a game in 20 minutes and beat me the first time like he’d been playing
forever. He was a nervous kid but he’d sit there and talk to you.
He and Anna couldn’t be without each other. I could tell that from the get go. I
think she was disappointed that he wasn’t as into being on TV as she was. If you ever
saw the episode of the Anna Nicole Smith Show that he was on he wouldn’t hardly smile.
He’d just duck and try to get out of the way of the camera. He always wore the same
stuff. If he could just live off of one pair of everything, he would do it. That’s not to say
that he smelled or anything, but he just wasn’t into a lot of flash.
Howard
Howard was a person who generally wanted to do anything that Anna wanted.
Even back then I thought his only crime was being pussywhipped. If being whipped was
a crime he would most definitely get life or the death penalty. That’s how bad he was.
He would do anything for her. Even when he was mad at her he would never even raise
his voice at Anna, even when she would claim that he yelled at her. If something
happened on the road that wasn’t even Howard’s fault on the road she would blame him.
And Howard would just take the blame. For instance every time we went to a hotel
Anna liked to have a bottle of Cristal waiting for her when she got there along some little
chocolate candies or chocolatecovered strawberries. If they weren’t there she would
blame Howard, even if it the blame had been on Trimspa, the hotel, or anyone else, he
would just own up to it.
I didn’t know how he was making a living back then but Howard did everything
for Anna that a publicist would do, and even sometimes that a lawyer would do. He
would even sleep in the same room with her during the times that she was into other
guys.
At one point during the Trimspa promotional tour there was this model named
Jesse, who appeared on a lot of the Trimspa bottle covers, that Anna was sleeping with.
If she decided to sleep with Jesse one night she would make Howard to go to his own
room until she and Jesse were finished. Howard was always given his own room, for that
reason or he shared a room up with Daniel. But he and Anna never shared one together
for an entire stay anywhere.
Howard and Daniel were always close. But this not to say that I ever saw Howard
being any kind of a father figure to Daniel. They were more like brothers. Not that I I
gave Daniel more advice than Howard did. But all in all he was totally infatuated with
Anna.
Kimmie
Kimmie was Anna’s assistant. She was a redhead, kind of chunky, and she most
definitely did not like men. Anna had her taking Trimspa for awhile but it didn’t work
too well. Not that that mattered to Kimmie, because she was in love with Anna. She
even had Anna’s face tattooed on the back of her arm and they would sleep in the same
room together a lot of the times. But even though she was in love with Anna, Kimmie,
unlike Howard, had no problem standing up for herself.
If Anna accused her of doing something that she hadn’t done she had no problem
with letting her know. She knew how to speak up and she never played along just
because. That would make Anna furious. But there was something about Kimmie that
Anna loved, because out of all of us, they were the only ones to constantly have
adjoining rooms.
Together we were a clique. You know like the way your have your crew of
friends in high school? We did almost everything together, and even though I was the
newest face it didn’t take too long before I was just as much a part of the group as
everyone else. After Daniel passed, it was just Howard, me, and Anna.
The airport almost looks like something out of a parade. They closed down ’95
right before rush hour just to make sure that we got Babygirl’s body through. The Dade
County escort follows us all the way to the airport. I can see the helicopters in the skies.
I can see the airline workers standing on luggage containers trying to get shots of the
hearse with their camera phones. There’s more press than there is air. This is the way
she would’ve wanted to go out. No question about it.
I am glad that her body is finally going home, where it belongs. It took so much
time, so much fighting. So much misery. But as the plane takes flight I imagine
Babygirl and Daniel’s souls floating alongside of us, enjoying the sun and the warm air,
and that feeling of being finally free after so much time in bondage. No one could keep
Anna from doing what she wanted to do. No one.