Blonde Ambition (23 page)

   The ceremonial shoveling of dirt onto Anna's pink-covered coffin commenced with Howard scooping dirt out of the back of a truck onto the lowered coffin, then Howard's friend Ron Rale, followed by Anna's bodyguard Moe. In a move that was by some accounts as extreme as the entire funeral itself, Anna Nicole's mother, Virgie Arthur, asked to go last. She walked to the grave, threw the photo of her and Anna on the coffin, and quickly picked up the shovel. Howard seemed noticeably displeased with this unannounced action. But what could he do? He couldn't reach down and pull it out.

   There was no stopping Virgie. She was going to make sure they weren't able to retrieve the picture. She began shoveling mound after mound of dirt into the grave. "I brought you into this world," Virgie remembers thinking, "and I'm going to be the last to send you out." She zealously shoveled for a full two minutes, dumping fifty-one shovelfuls of dirt onto her daughter's mahogany coffin. In spite of everything, Virgie Arthur is happy that the photo of her and Anna was forever laid to rest atop her daughter's casket.

It was on the way back from the burial that Larry Birkhead stopped at his Bahamian attorney's office so that he could privately sign the one million dollar media contract that his attorney, Debra Opri, had secured for him. The monies went into a client trust account at Opri's law firm. Typically, such trust accounts are kept to prevent commingling of client fees received by attorneys. Larry contended that this payment was not for legal fees and should have gone directly to him. Their relationship began to sour. Larry Birkhead and Debra Opri ended up in a lawsuit of their own over her fees and their media agreement.

   After receiving her $620,492.84 bill, Larry Birkhead not only said he wasn't going to pay it, he filed a $885,000 suit against her alleging legal malpractice, saying she defrauded him out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as seeking punitive remuneration. In his lawsuit, Larry claimed that her $620,492.84 bill was excessive and said the deal they reached stated that Opri would work for free because she knew the publicity generated by the case would be good for her visibility. In her response, Opri says it's a case of a client not living up to his obligation, and her retainer agreement signed by Larry Birkhead proves it.

   Debra Opri also says that Larry Birkhead isn't the sweet guy that he had America believing. Yes, he wanted his daughter, but he also wanted his time in the media spotlight and the monies that attention would bring him. She has two fee agreements with Larry Birkhead: one an hourly rate for legal fees and a separate agreement under which she would get a commission/ percentage for media deals. She contends that as a result of the second agreement, the money for the media deal was appropriately placed in his client trust account.

   I was unaware of the terms of either deal, and have never received confidential documents from Debra Opri. I also have never been given any interviews as payback for referring him to her, as he alleged in his filing. In fact, Larry Birkhead and I were discussing many details of his case and setting up an interview, before Opri ever got involved.

   What Opri says in her response filing is that when Larry came to her it seems he was very concerned about his public image. She says both Howard K. Stern and Anna Nicole had been characterizing him to the media as a "freeloading wannabe famous person, who was in reality a loser 'surfer boy' paparazzi." He wanted to become popular "like a sex symbol" so that people would support him and he would develop a "following," so that he could eventually have his own media career.

   In her response, Debra Opri said their goal was to establish him as a shy and quiet, "aw shucks nice guy." She says it was a deliberate decision at first to keep Larry from speaking in court and quiet during most press conferences because "his silence created an image of someone who was there for no other reason than he wanted his attorney to fight for his child." And, she says, the nice guy image worked. America embraced him. But behind the scenes, she says, was a different story. "Birkhead was demanding, and threw temper tantrums regularly." And after Anna died, his "behavior became even more extreme."

   Prior to the Florida hearings regarding where Anna's remains would be buried and who should have control of them, Larry Birkhead had originally agreed with his attorney's assessment that "it wasn't their fight," that they "didn't belong in Florida," that this battle was "between Virgie and Howard."

   When the hearings started, eight days after Anna's death, Opri filed a motion in California requesting that the court order that Anna's  DNA be preserved for testing. The court granted her motion, subject to Florida's consent. Her filing says, "Accordingly, Opri now had to secure Florida counsel to secure enforcement of this order so that Anna's DNA could be protected for paternity testing."

   In the middle of February, when Judge Seidlin announced that he would be taking statements as to Anna's "intent," Larry Birkhead changed his mind and instructed Opri to tell the court that he "would appear in person" that he "had information that he wanted to testify to." Larry told Opri that Florida was "where all the action" was and that he wanted to be a part of the big "photo op."

   In Florida, while staying as guests at a friend's 14,000 square foot home in Fort Lauderdale, he had Opri shop for (and put on her credit cards) outfits, including sunglasses for him to wear for his court appearances. In addition, rather than the inexpensive rental car his attorney had suggested, he instead asked her to pay for a daily private car and driver on his behalf. He said he wanted to arrive at court each day the "same way as Howard," who arrived each morning in a black SUV with a driver.

   According to her court papers, Larry's behavior changed drastically after the Florida hearings, most noticeably after he had the "secret" meeting with Howard, which Opri reluctantly allowed him to do. During that meeting, "Birkhead was asked to come to an arrangement with Stern in return for him 'not challenging the paternity anymore.'" Opri claims that Ford Shelley leaked the meeting to the press to create tension between Opri and Larry and the present public appearance that Larry was beginning to distance himself from his lawyer and do his own deal. "The conduct from thereon, by Stern and his attorneys," Opri charges, "was clearly to show the media that Birkhead would be better off without Opri. Birkhead, while telling Opri in private that this was not happening, actually started dealing directly with Stern concerning all aspects of the case, such that Stern and his lawyers knew everything that Opri was doing in her case, thanks to Birkhead." Opri felt she had a runaway client.

   During the secret meeting Howard and Larry had in Florida, Larry had been promised he'd get to meet his daughter for the first time, after seeing her for months, only through pictures shown on television. When he arrived in the Bahamas days before the funeral of Anna Nicole, he was granted a visit with little Dannielynn. Mark Speer, Larry Birkhead's security guard, was at the Horizons house, a few feet from where Larry and Howard had their discussion and saw and heard virtually every detail. He thought it was odd that Judy Birkhead, Larry's sister, walked in and barely acknowledged Howard. But Larry and Howard gave each other a big "full-armed embrace" as soon as Larry walked in the door. "It seemed like a familiar embrace," Speer told me. "It wasn't an awkward moment in any way. It stunned me."

   Howard presented Dannielynn and said, "Here's your baby." But for the entire forty-five minute visit, Larry was forced to use a towel to keep her mouth from touching his clothing or skin. At one point, the baby spit up on the towel and Howard said, "I bet you'd like to have this towel" as he took it away. Howard wanted no DNA evidence on Larry's body when he left. They were, after all, still in the middle of a bitter paternity suit, despite the unusual embrace.

   Mark Speer heard first hand Howard's proposal to Larry: "I will give you your baby, if you leave me as executor of the estate." Speer, a retired deputy sheriff later told me, "I felt like arresting Howard then and there for kidnapping and holding the baby for ransom. If I could have."

   Larry responded to Howard: "I'm not going to leave you as executor."

   Howard then said to Larry: "It only makes sense if I keep running her business. I'll also pay you an on-going fee."

   "You don't have to pay me a fee," Larry said. "Because whatever's there is mine anyway. This is not going to happen."

   Speer told me he "thought this was strange for Larry to say because Dannielynn would inherit Anna's estate, not Larry Birkhead."

   Despite Larry's reticence at the house, what seemed like an astonishing alliance was beginning to form. Larry spoke incessantly to Howard K. Stern throughout the day and well into the night. Opri felt her client was being used by Howard and coerced into a deal he didn't have to make. She thought Birkhead would win in the courts and legitimately get his baby in a matter of weeks. Opri believed Howard knew this too and was using every bargaining chip in his arsenal as well as playing on Larry's strong and immediate desire to get his baby in order to rush and strike a deal.

   Larry was also beginning to seek Howard's advice. "He would be on the phone with Howard while he sat in his hotel room surfing the internet to see how many photos/stories of him had made it into the media that day," Opri charges. "If a story did not sound favorable to him, he would call Stern to ask what he should do."

   Mark Speer told me he loaned Larry his cell phone during this time period, resulting in two phone bills totaling $3100, which normally averaged $150 a month in usage. Larry kept promising to pay Speer back, but never did. Meanwhile, Larry's family urged him to listen to his attorney's advice and though he told them "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he'd immediately get right back on the phone with Howard K. Stern. "I warned him as a law enforcement officer to be careful," Speer said. "I told him, 'he's clearly trapping you.'"

   Opri says she "told Birkhead that he was in over his head with Stern, and that, like Anna, Stern was 'reeling him in.'" While the funeral arrangements were being made, Opri overheard many conversations between Howard and Larry; most of the conversations had nothing to do with burial plans.

   Before the funeral, a Bahamian judge stated that Virgie should be allowed to see her granddaughter, so upon the court's direction, Virgie went to Horizons. During her visit, which only lasted about twenty-five minutes, tension was very thick between her and Howard. When she went to touch the baby, Howard stopped her. "No," he said. "The judge said you could
see
her, not
touch
her." But, again, Howard offered another Dannielynn deal. "If you let Vickie be buried in the Bahamas, I'll let you hold her and kiss her." Virgie would not agree to drop her last minute legal actions and left the house without ever touching her beautiful little granddaughter.

   During that same trip to the Bahamas, Virgie met with Larry at the Hilton Hotel. She told him in her Texas drawl, "I believe in you, son. You seem like a good, decent guy. I believe you are the baby's father, and I will help you in any way I can against Howard."

   Virgie thought she and Larry got along well and had developed an understanding, and a great partnership. Within weeks, she would realize that she was sadly mistaken.

   At one point in the Bahamas, Debra Opri and Larry Birkhead had a big fight because she caught him on the phone again with Howard. "They were not talking about funeral arrangements," Opri charges. "But rather what Birkhead would have to do to get his child, including 'ending all litigation against Stern and not testifying against him in the inquest.'" This infuriated Opri. She asked Larry, "What exactly is going on between the two of you?" She told him, "He's the enemy in this litigation, and until he agrees to a DNA test for Dannielynn, you can't talk to him about this case." Though Larry promised he would not speak to Howard anymore, minutes later he was back on the phone with Howard K. Stern.

   I had been with Larry walking around the shops of the Atlantis Hotel a few nights before he left. He was looking at baby things. He was buying clothes, rattles, and stuffed animals so that he could take them over to Dannielynn before he left back to the States. But Howard would not allow Larry to see the baby again when he went to drop off the items before he left the Bahamas. Though Larry begged Howard to let him see the baby for a second time, Howard said, "You can't. You haven't done anything for me."

   Hours later, Larry left on the plane for home. He was sobbing and desperate to see his child.

   Soon after this Virgie says everything suddenly changed and she found herself completely cut out. Howard, who had deprived Larry of seeing his daughter for months, and had put him through a costly legal battle, abruptly dropped all challenges to the custody, clearing the way for an immediate DNA test. Remarkably, he removed the hurdles he'd been putting up for months. "Suddenly Howard has essentially become his advisor," an investigator for Virgie told me. "It just doesn't make sense . . . . Larry had all the cards, he didn't need to fold to Howard."

   Virgie told me that she wishes all the money tied to Anna's billionaire late husband was gone. She suggested in court that a trust be set up with several people overseeing any funds the baby might receive at some point. She wanted people such as Larry's own parents and herself reviewing this trust. Larry quickly declined this offer. "I believe the dollars are tainted," she told me. "And I don't believe Larry's shown he's responsible enough to manage the baby's affairs with Howard Stern by his side." Judge Seidlin's words that "money was the root of all evil" echoed in my head.

   At the Hilton Hotel the day that Virgie and Larry had met, Virgie says she had an eye-opening conversation with a desperate and nervous young man. Virgie asked Larry Birkhead about Howard. "What does he have on you?"