NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- The guests of honor were feuding.
Spectators booed and cheered behind steel barricades. A crew from an
entertainment television program buzzed around a coffin draped in a
rhinestone-studded pink cover.
Anna Nicole's Smith's funeral on Friday was part soap opera, part circus -- perhaps a fitting combination for a woman who found a niche on the ragged outer edge of celebrity as a former Playboy Playmate and reality TV star.
But for those who came to pay their respects, the event was a solemn one despite the atmosphere.
"It was very, very sad," said Kathryn Beranich, who was supervising producer of Smith's reality TV show. "Seeing the casket being rolled down you realize this friend is in there and she will no longer be with us."
While Smith was mourned at a lavish memorial service, the fight over her baby daughter -- and a potential multimillion dollar inheritance -- remained very much alive. Her companion, Howard K. Stern, her mother Virgie Arthur, and her former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, are battling for custody of 5-month-old Dannielynn.