Johnny Nunez/WireImage.com, Johnny Nunez/WireImage.comLarry Birkhead and Howard K. Stern remain joined at the hip when it comes to defending their Anna Nicole Smith-related honor.
As the two-year anniversary of the model and reality-TV star's death approaches, the once-feuding duo filed declarations Tuesday in Stern's ongoing defamation lawsuit against two of the sources for the 2007 "tell-all" Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death. (View the documents.)
The book, written by former MSNBC journalist Rita Cosby, contends that Stern and Birkhead had a homosexual relationship and were in cahoots to ensure Birkhead got custody of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn, while Stern—whom Cosby also alleges played a role in the drug-related death of Smith's 20-year-old son, Daniel—made off with as much of Smith's money as possible.
According to Wednesday's filing, however, defendant Mark Speer (who once provided security for Birkhead at the behest of his then-attorney, Debra Opri) "started exhibiting extremely odd behavior" when he was first hired and ultimately went on to tell Cosby "numerous lies" about what happened in the wake of Smith's death.
Debra Opri, whom Birkhead later sued over legal fees, "blamed Howard K. Stern for the breakdown in our relationship" and Speer sided with Opri, Birkhead contends.
Per his declaration, among Speer's untruths that ended up in Cosby's book: that Birkhead told Bahamian police Stern had funneled millions of dollars of Smith's money into various offshore bank accounts; that it was Birkhead's "mission" to make sure police investigated Stern; that Speer was privy to a conversation between Birkhead and Stern on the way home from Smith's burial service; that he and Stern "embraced" when Birkhead first arrived in the Bahamas to meet his daughter; and that he told Speer that Stern had "offered to give [him] Dannielynn."
"Many other lies about me in Blonde Ambition that are attributed to Mark Speer are not included in Howard K. Stern's lawsuit or addressed in this declaration," Birkhead added.
Stern's declaration also asserts that Speer was never around for any "substantive communication" he may have had with Birkhead.
Speer's allegations that Stern stole money from Smith are "absolutely false," as are claims that Stern was "criminally involved" in Daniel Smith's death, that Stern drugged Smith, and that he "ransomed Danielynn to Larry Birkhead in order to become the executor of Anna's estate."
"I never said, 'Here's your baby,' or anything like that," Stern states. "In fact, our only discussions were about Danielynn's care, and for most of the visit I stayed in other parts of the house while Larry…played with Dannielynn in the nursery."
A hearing on the case, which also named Elizabeth "Jackie" Hatton, the sister of one of Smith's ex-boyfriends, as a defendant, is scheduled for Feb. 3.