What Anna Nicole Smith Really Did For A Living Before Her Fame

Anna Nicole Smith is arguably most famous for being in one of the most alarming age-gap relationships in Hollywood history. However, Anna Nicole Smith's life was really tragic, and it wasn't easy for the model and actor to find her footing in the entertainment industry. She came from humble beginnings in Mexia, Texas with her mother, Virgie Arthur, employed locally as a deputy sheriff. Anna Nicole married her first husband Billy Wayne Smith while still in her teens and worked at Red Lobster before switching to stripping.

In 2017, Arthur told the Daily Mail all about the time she caught her daughter working in a local club. As she recalled, "[My partner and I] went over to the Executive Suite and the manager walked over when he saw us in there in uniform. I was adjusting my eyes to see if I could see her. Sure enough, there she was with her G-string on in some man's face, dancing." Arthur threatened the club's manager if Anna Nicole worked there again before scolding her daughter for taking the nightlife job over her restaurant position.

But Anna Nicole decided to keep working as an exotic dancer, reasoning that she made more money that way, and much faster, and left her young son under Arthur's care. 

Anna Nicole Smith's service experience goes further back than her days at Red Lobster, and the restaurant industry is kind of the reason why she became a mother in the first place too. After she dropped out of high school, the future starlet worked at Jim's Krispy Fried Chicken in Mexia, Texas. It was there that she met Billy Wayne Smith. Anna Nicole's mother Virgie Arthur revealed to the Daily Mail that she was upset her future husband didn't notice her at first, noting, "She told me, 'I'm going to get that boy, just watch, he's going to marry me.'" The teenagers did indeed marry in 1985 and Anna Nicole gave birth to their son Daniel Wayne Smith the following year. 

Their marriage didn't last, though, with the couple divorcing in 1993. The Playboy model later admitted that Billy was controlling. "I wasn't allowed to go out of the house or go to the store," she disclosed, per the Daily Mail. "He was so jealous." Like many other celebs who had babies when they were just teens, Anna Nicole worked at Red Lobster to take care of her young son before realizing that stripping and eventually joining the entertainment industry made more sense financially. Sadly, Daniel passed away mere days after his famous mom gave birth to daughter Dannielynn Smith, in 2006. Her short-lived partner, Larry Birkhead, subsequently reasoned that Anna Nicole "truly died of a broken heart" (via People) when she also passed away just five months later.