This time, it's paternal.
Anna Nicole Smith's disgruntled ex-boyfriend and wannabe baby daddy, Larry Birkhead, filed suit Monday against the TrimSpa spokeswoman, demanding she return to California with newborn daughter Dannielynn Hope in tow for the baby to undergo a paternity test.
Birkhead announced his move during an interview with MSNBC's Rita Cosby, who first reported the news.
According to Cosby, Birkhead's lawsuit contains some very "damning" allegations, including the claim the model was taking methadone and that her attorney and, as it turns out, love interest, Howard K. Stern, has been facilitating her habit.
Birkhead's suit also accuses Smith of fleeing to the Bahamas to have her baby to avoid being tested for drugs. Birkhead further alleges that Stern is claiming to be Dannielynn's father for his own financial gain--and that Smith had asked a third man to claim he was the father of her child, only the plan didn't work out, because the man in question had already had a vasectomy.
Smith, who recently learned, along with the rest of the world, that her 20-year-old son, Daniel, accidentally died of a heart attack caused by a lethal combination of antidepressants and methadone, gave birth to Dannielynn Sept. 7, three days before her son's sudden death.
In his petition, Birkhead also requests Smith and her daughter undergo drug testing. According to the photographer's attorney, Debra Opri, Birkhead is seeking legal and physical custody of the child.
"The public will be very surprised when they learn the details of the lifestyle this baby is going to be faced with if she remains in the current situation," Opri said in a statement. She has said she will appear in Superior Court Wednesday to request a judge to order Smith's return to California.
Luckily, Smith has a lawyer on her side. Stern announced on Larry King Live last Wednesday that he is the father of Smith's baby. The couple participated in an impromptu commitment ceremony Thursday morning in the Bahamas, where they had been staying to await final pathology reports regarding Daniel's death. Radar.com reported that People bought the rights to pictures from the event for $1 million.
Potentially complicating matters is that Smith became a permanent resident of the Bahamas shortly before Dannielynn's birth. It is not known whether she renounced her U.S. citizenship, however. Smith is also in the midst of an ongoing legal battle over the fortune of ex-husband J. Howard Marshall II and presumably will have to come to the States at some point for related litigation.
Opri, meanwhile, called Birkhead "a first-time father" who is "responding to allegations made by [Stern]" and "believes beyond any doubt that [Birkhead] is the father."
Appearing on MSNBC Monday night, Birkhead told Cosby he is "outraged and angry" over Stern's remarks, saying the attorney was trying to "hoodwink the American public" with a story full of "inconsistencies."
"There is absolutely no way that [Stern] is the father of this child," Birkhead said. "He knows it, I know it and that's all there is to it. He challenged me on live television to get an attorney, so I have taken him up on his offer."