Anna Nicole Smith

I guess you could say that one of America's favorite soap operas has been cancelled.

When Anna Nicole Smith died yesterday afternoon, so did the pathetic voyeurism into her life.

Now that she's gone, I wonder who will be the next tabloid obsession.

I suspect it will take a long time before another Smith comes along. Her life was the perfect storm for the tabloids and the celebrity-hungry public to follow.

I think it had to be a sad existence.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith, the curvaceous blonde whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale — Playboy centerfold, jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother — died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.

She was stricken while staying at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and was rushed to a hospital. Edwina Johnson, chief investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, said the cause of death was under investigation and an autopsy would be done on Friday.

..."Undoubtedly it will be found at the end of the day that drugs featured in her death as they did in the death of poor Daniel," said a former attorney for Smith in the Bahamas, Michael Scott.

Another former Smith attorney, Lenard Leeds, told the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ that Smith "always had problems with her weight going up and down, and there's no question she used alcohol." Leeds said it was no secret that "she had a very troubled life" and had "so many, many problems."

Smith attorney Ron Rale told The Associated Press that he had talked to her on Tuesday or Wednesday, and she had flu symptoms and a fever and was still grieving over her son. He dismissed claims her death was related to drugs as "a bunch of nonsense."

"Poor Anna Nicole," he said. "She's been the underdog. She's been besieged ... and she's been trying her best and nobody should have to endure what she's endured."

I think it was a terrible waste that Smith allowed her life to be exploited by the media. They certainly ate it all up. The media gave the public exactly what it wanted -- more.

It's as though her purpose on earth was to entertain the masses, not with her talents, but with the tragic twists and turns of her life.

She did crave attention. Normal people don't open up their lives to be taped and aired on cable.

Now, the ultimate reality show has ended with Smith's death.

She was a media creation. It's as if the tabloids breathed life into her and she drew her life from them.

Somewhere along the line though, the real person got swallowed up by the persona. To the public, Anna Nicole Smith became a character and a punch line, not a flesh and blood human being.

I think that's why her death is a shock. It's not a shock that she died so young. It's a shock that she actually died.

Her death reminds us that she was really alive. She wasn't fictional after all.

Although she was used by the entertainment media, Smith was a victim of her own choices. She chose her life and the life she chose led to her early death.

Naturally, the tabloids and entertainment news are guaranteed to dwell on all the details, making the most of it.

But in the days and weeks ahead, as the final installments of her story are recorded, it should be remembered that when that entity known as "Anna Nicole Smith" died, so did someone's daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend -- not a cartoonish figure, but a human being.

I think it's very, very sad.