Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter Dannielynn, 19, reveals plans to follow in mom’s footsteps

Anna Nicole Smith‘s daughter Dannielynn Birkhead is now 19, in college, and looking towards the future. While Anna was an American model, actress, and TV personality who rose to fame as a Playboy centerfold, her daughter is keeping her options open when it comes to the future.

“I’m majoring in forensic science,” Dannielynn, 19, has now shared. “I might double major, possibly, in something regarding culinary, because I love baking,” she added. “I don’t know.”

Dannielynn, who has kept the name of her college private, was joined by her father Larry at the Barnstable Brown Gala ahead of the 2026 Kentucky Derby, where photographer Larry admitted that “a lot of people want her to follow in her mom’s footsteps”.

“And she’s thought about that, and maybe she might switch back to that one day — but right now, she’s kind of wanting to do her own thing with the forensics and the criminal studies,” he said.

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Speaking to People magazine, Larry added: “I’m excited for her to just follow any path that she wants… so I’m all about whatever she wants.

For the annual event, which holds a special meaning for both, as it is where Larry met Anna Nicole in 2003 when he was a photographer, Dannielynn unveiled a dramatic new look, with dad Larry proudly sharing how the teen was “coming into her own.”

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Sharing photos of his daughter’s new look on their joint Instagram account, Larry revealed that Dannielynn had ditched her shoulder-length blonde hair in favor of a layered pixie cut, which had been dyed an icy platinum hue with jet black tips.

“She chopped it all off and put some wild colors in it,” he told People. “I was kind of bracing myself at the hair salon. I guess she’s at the age to do what she wants to do.”

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The event benefits the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center at the University of Kentucky, and the father-daughter duo regularly attend, with it often being Dannielynn’s only public appearance of the year.

Anna Nicole fell pregnant in 2006 and welcomed Dannielynn in September 2006.  Five months later, Anna Nicole died of “combined drug intoxication” with a sleep medicine considered the major component. 

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In the months that followed her death, Howard Stern, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband, Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt, and Anna Nicole’s former bodyguard and chef, Alexander Denk, all claimed that they had been having affairs with Anna Nicole, and were Dannilynn’s father.

In April 2007, DNA tests established Larry as the biological father, and he has raised Dannielynn in the 19 years since.