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DNA Test: Birkhead Is Dannielynn's Father
TUESDAY APRIL 10, 2007 03:40 PM EDT
By Stephen M. Silverman
Larry Birkhead Photo by: Steve Dennett / Splash News
According to DNA test results revealed Tuesday, Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's 7-month-old daughter Dannielynn.
"I hate to be the one who told you this, but: I told you so," Birkhead, 34, said during a press conference outside the Bahamas courthouse. "I'm the father."
"Thank you for your support. Thank you for the people who got me this far," he said, choking up. "Thank you very much. My baby's gonna be coming home pretty soon." Asked about when he would take Dannielynn home, he said, "Things are moving quickly here, and we'll see what happens."
Birkhead's attorney, Emrick Knowles, then told reporters, "We'll be back in court on Friday in the afternoon. We've got some other issues to deal with." He would not comment on specifics, but did say: "[The judge] hasn't made any ruling about custody yet."
Howard K. Stern, who was listed as the father on the baby's birth certificate, gave Birkhead a hug outside the courthouse. "We're gonna do what we can to make sure that the best interests of Dannielynn are carried out," said Stern. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure that he gets sole custody."
Asked if he'd allow Birkhead to see Dannielynn right away, Stern said, "Larry can come over to the house and spend as much time with her as he wants to right now."
Anna Nicole's mother, Virgie Arthur, said after that hearing that she expects to be part of the baby's life. "I'm happy that Dannielynn will know who her real father is," said Arthur. "I look forward to working with Larry raising my granddaughter.
Birkhead had submitted his own DNA for testing, and Dannielynn's was tested on March 21 following a
recommendation by a Bahamas Supreme Court Judge. Howard K. Stern, Smith's companion who is named as Dannielynn's father on her birth certificate, did not undergo DNA testing.
Dannielynn was born in the Bahamas on Sept. 7, three days before Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel, died while visiting his mother in a Nassau hospital.
The baby, whose full name is Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, stands to inherit millions from the estate of Smith's late husband, Texas oil baron J. Howard Marshall II, who died in 1995. Smith, who
died on Feb. 8 in Hollywood, Fla., of an accidental drug overdose, had been battling his family over the estimated $500 million fortune.
After the DNA test was performed, Stern filed a legal bid to block the release of the results, but
withdrew the appeal after it appeared that it would be rejected by the court.
Last month
Birkhead said he was so confident he was Dannielynn's father, he was getting his home ready for her. "I've been putting a nursery together," he said outside a paternity hearing in Los Angeles.
Stern allowed Birkhead to meet the baby in the Bahamas last month, an experience Birkhead called "one of the greatest things in my life."
DNA Test: Larry Birkhead is Dannielynn Smith's father
"I was stoned. It seemed like a fun thing to do at the time. " -Jim Morrison
yeah right! Hes probably just hatchin' out plans to make more money off them and so he doesnt have to face US laws!
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