In an odd twist, Anna Nicole Smith almost became a bigger star after her passing than she had been during her lifetime. She was undoubtedly an intriguing celebrity figure, but there were so many questions about her life and death that fans are still looking to uncover her secrets today.
And it's true that she did leave at least one secret behind: the paternity of her daughter, Dannielynn. As it turned out, little Dannielynn's dad was Larry Birkhead, and these days, she's living a relatively normal life with him.
Apart from the tragedy of her passing, fans have always been interested to find out more about Anna Nicole's daughter and other details of her life. For one thing, everyone wondered whether young Dannielynn would inherit the millions that her mom reportedly left behind.
It's more than the money that was Smith's legacy, though. Fans and the media remember her as a talented actress and model who had big plans, even if she never quite got there.
But some rumors have continued to swirl about Anna Nicole to this day. One of them is that she was masquerading as a totally vapid model while hiding her brilliance underneath.
Someone close to Anna Nicole had more to reveal after her passing, though. The director who worked with the actress and model on her last film explained that he learned something that really surprised him about Smith.
Not only was she a sweet person, when plenty of other Hollywood stars are totally conceited, but director David Giancola explained on Reddit that he learned a surprising secret about the rich and famous face.
With all her success, having pulled herself up into 'higher society' by the bootstraps, Giancola explained he was surprised to find out that Anna was practically illiterate.
The director elaborated that in the film he worked with her on, he found out that Smith "could barely read." It came as a surprise because Smith had worked in Hollywood as an actress, so fans would assume she could read a script, at the very least.
But perhaps it's not that surprising, because Anna Nicole did grow up poor in a small town, and had her first child as a teen. She started out working in fast food, and she didn't go to college, nor did she finish high school. In fact, she only attended high school until her sophomore year.
In Anna's own words, she "don't read so good," said Giancola, and she was "functionally illiterate." Although, she probably had plenty of people to do the important reading of contracts and whatnot for her, so it's perhaps not entirely surprising that she managed to keep the secret throughout her career.