An anonymous German businessman has paid a reported $512,000 (GBP262,000) for ANNA NICOLE SMITH's private journals.

The diaries were auctioned off on website eBay by the bosses of sports memorabilia website UniversalRarities.com.

Site bosses STEVEN WOOLF and THOMAS RICCIO spent months authenticating the diaries from 1992 to 1995 after a collector who once lived next door to Smith in Texas claimed the diaries and various memorabilia when her mother VIRGIE ARTHUR was throwing it out.

Source contactmusic