Anna Nicole Smith Husband

Anna Nicole Smith’s Husbands: A Clear Timeline

Anna Nicole Smith had two legal husbands: Air Force pilot Michael Smith, her first husband, and Anthony “Tony” Hester, her second. Both marriages ended in divorce. Because the first separation and divorce took many years to resolve, some biographies and online articles blur the distinction between Smith’s legal marriages and her later relationships. She was also romantically involved with J. D. Price, but they were never married.

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Her First Husband, Michael Smith

Anna Nicole Smith married fellow Air Force pilot Michael Smith in 1993 while she was working as a model and entertainer. The relationship was brief, and the couple separated that October. However, the legal dissolution of their marriage continued for years. Although Smith later described herself as effectively unmarried, the divorce was not formally finalized until 2009.

That unusually long legal process is the main reason conflicting accounts exist. Some summaries describe Michael as her former husband, while others report that Anna Nicole remained legally married to him for much of the period following their separation. The distinction is important: they separated in 1993, but the divorce decree was not finalized until 2009. Michael died in 2004, and questions about the status of the marriage and associated legal proceedings continued afterward.

Her Second Husband, Anthony Hester

Smith’s second husband was Anthony Hester, a tattoo artist from Texas. They married in Wortham, Texas, in May 2007 after a short engagement and elopement. The relationship did not last as long as many early news reports suggested. Anna Nicole gave birth to their son, Kaelin, in February 2008, but the couple separated soon afterward.

They filed for divorce in July 2008, and the process was finalized in July 2009. Hester received primary custody of Kaelin, while Smith was granted supervised visitation. The custody arrangement was widely reported because it became part of the broader public debate about her parenting and personal life. Their marriage is therefore best understood as a short-lived legal relationship that overlapped with the birth of her son, rather than as a long-term partnership.

J. D. Price Was Her Partner, Not Her Husband

Anna Nicole Smith also had a widely publicized relationship with J. D. Price, a South Carolina realtor and horse trainer. They dated from approximately 2005 to 2006 and were often described in entertainment coverage as a serious couple. Despite that reporting, they did not marry. Price was therefore her former boyfriend or partner, not a third husband.

Price died in 2009, the same year Anna Nicole’s two divorces were finalized. That coincidence, along with the complex history surrounding Michael Smith, likely contributed to the confusion found in retrospective articles.

Why the Record Sometimes Seems Contradictory

Most discrepancies come from three different situations being treated as one. First, Anna Nicole and Michael Smith separated almost immediately but remained connected through divorce proceedings for many years. Second, she married Hester while the first divorce was still unresolved. Third, her relationship with J. D. Price generated substantial coverage without resulting in marriage.

The most accurate summary is that Anna Nicole Smith was married twice, first to Michael Smith and later to Anthony Hester. She had no current husband at the time of her death in 2022. When reviewing any account of her personal life, it is helpful to distinguish a wedding from a separation, a divorce filing from a final decree, and a serious romantic relationship from a legal marriage.