Anna Nicole Smith was famous for being herself. She led an extravagant and loving lifestyle of her own making. She was constantly in the tabloids relating to her mood swings, slurred speech, male partner choices, and larger-than-life personality. Her sudden death, on February 8, 2007 (Anna Nicole Smith 2007), made audiences wonder who this voluptuous woman really was.
Anna Nicole Smith, born Vickie Lynn Hogan, never seemed happy in her surroundings as a child. She continually changed her name (Anna Nicole Smith, 2007), trying to be someone else. He used this defense mechanism to escape the emotional inhibitors present in his childhood home. Anna’s half-sister has reported that her father had physically and sexually abused Anna and her sisters (msnbc.com, 2007). Anna’s mother took her out of that environment and she ended up being poor in a trailer park. Anna always seemed to want something better and would do whatever it took to achieve her goals.
As described in the Cognitive / Social Theory (Kowalski & Westen, 2005), Anna felt that by creating a different person, she would escape her reality and achieve the goals of her latest dream of stardom. She believed that by reflecting certain exuberant behaviors, she could achieve her pie-in-heaven dreams. Most TV watchers would say that she pushed herself to be the next Marilyn Monroe. This is called expectation of behavioral outcomes (Kowalski & Westen, 2005). The expectation of self-efficacy explains that Anna knew she was in control and capable of achieving these goals. She set high personal goals to turn her life into a dream 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 chained”. (pages 447-448). Anna was a compassionate and life-loving person, but felt repressed by society and the economy. He found employment in all work settings, from fried chicken, to Wal-mart, to a strip club, to achieve his goals.
While working in fried chicken, she married a boy a year younger than her; He was sixteen at the time. They divorced shortly after; she also had a son by this man. Anna Nicole began to undress in a club, while sending body photos to Playboy magazine (Anna Nicole Smith, 2007), trying to break into the Hollywood scene. She was aware of her true self, but was willing to delve into a false self to escape her bonds (Kowalski & Westen, 2005). I wanted to be accepted and loved by everyone, literally. Anna puts on an oil tycoon while she strips naked, and marries him years later. This marriage and relationship was extremely controversial because the gentleman was eighty-nine at the time, she was only twenty-seven. Many, including the son of man, 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 hitting the tabloids. I 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 left a widow only a year later. Her husband’s son took Anna to court, preventing her from getting money. She asked him to love him, and he loved her. She wanted to be cared for (Goldman, 2001). The case was still in and out of the court system at the time of Anna’s death.
Anna’s death was sudden for everyone. However, he suffered from depression continuously. He did not hide the fact that he was taking antidepressants from the public. 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, twenty years old, and had given birth to a girl a few months earlier. Anna hadn’t said who her daughter’s father 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 a secret. It seemed like he wanted something different for his new family.
The humanist theory is the one that best supports the personality of Anna Nicole Smith. His childhood was full of inescapable situations in his environment. His adulthood was based on self-made drama and stardom. Anna buried her true self as a child, renaming herself multiple 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 they exploited her. The only trait Anna never hid was her big, loving southern heart. 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 book that says it all about Anna Nicole’s half-sister. (2007, April 12). Msnbc.com, retrieved October 19,
2007, from http://www.msnbc.com.
Anna Nicole Smith. (2007, February 17). Economist, retrieved October 18, 2007, from
Academic Search Premier database.
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 and Westen, D. (2005). Psychology; The study of mental processes and
Behavior, (4th edition). United States: John Wily & Sons, Inc.