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Larry Birkhead: "I Have a Hard Time Thinking Howard Will Be Found Guilty"
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AP Photo/Tim Aylen; Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images
Larry Birkhead supposedly testified for the D.A. But his sentiments are definitely with Howard K. Stern as he faces charges of plying their former leading lady, Anna Nicole Smith, with drugs.
"I'm glad it's over with," he exclusively told E! News after wrapping his testimony Monday. "At times I had to fight back tears...Talking about Anna brings back tearful memories."
As for his sometimes testy exchanges with prosecutors?
"I did the best I could," Birkhead said. "It's hard to remember the minute details."
Birkhead reiterated that while he thought Smith was taking too many medications for physical and emotional issues, she wasn't an addict ("What she was dealing with was real," he said), and he doesn't believe Stern would ever have done anything to harm her.
"I can never see Howard doing anything wrong to Anna other than give her bad advice about me," said Birkhead, referring to the well-publicized paternity battle between him and Stern over Anna Nicole's daughter, Dannielynn. Birkhead was eventually found to be the daddy.
Asked if he thought Stern was responsible for Smith's death, Birkhead said: "Absolutely not"
But he did say that the trial is "going in a weird direction. I know it's going slow and I don't know where the end will be. I don't understand what their case is, they keep going back and forth. I think Anna was Anna. At some point, you have to say did Anna take these with her own hand?"
"If Howard is found guilty he's found guilty...I'm not the jury. I have a hard time thinking Howard will be found guilty."
Birkhead spent his 40 minutes on the stand Monday being quizzed by defense attorneys about a short video he made of Smith four days after her infamous performance at the American Music Awards. Birkhead suggested Smith was playing up her airhead role for his camera.
Smith's mother, Virgie Mae, was noticeably shaken as the tape rolled.
Birkhead first took the stand last Thursday. Prosecutors had hoped to use his recollections to prove that her supposed svengali, Stern, and Drs. Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich, conspired to pump Smith full of prescription medications. They have all pleaded not guilty.
For more on Larry Birkhead's interview, watch E! News Tuesday at 7 and 11:30 p.m.
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