Life ‘tough’ for Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter

IT’S been nine years since Anna Nicole Smith died — and now the father of her daughter Dannielynn has opened up about raising a young girl without a mother.

LARRY Birkhead says raising his daughter, Dannielynn, without her mother Anna Nicole Smith has been difficult.

“It’s a lot of work, but there’s a lot of reward there,” Birkhead said on an episode of the Steve Harvey Show that aired Tuesday. “Everyday is like an adventure, it’s a little bit of a struggle. You don’t have enough time in the day and you always wish you had that extra pair of hands to help out.”

“It’s tough raising a little girl without a mum,” says Larry. Picture: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

In February 2007, Smith died at age 39 of an accidental overdose of at least nine different prescription drugs, reports Today.com. Dannielynn was only 5 months old at the time.

“It’s tough raising a little girl without a mum,” Birkhead, 43, said of his 9-year-old daughter. “You always want to make sure you’re doing the right thing that a mum would choose that a dad might not choose. There were days on the playground where she would say she wants her mum back … it’s tough for her to visit the grave. It makes me emotional thinking about everything we’ve been through. It’s just been a rollercoaster.”

Anna Nicole died in 2007, just months after losing her son Daniel. Picture: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File

Anna Nicole’s first child (from a previous relationship), Daniel Smith, died from a drug overdose at his mother’s hospital room at age 20, just days after his baby sister was born.

“Things could have turned out a lot different,” he thought. “I think in a sad tale, this is kind of the happiest ending that you could have.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and is republished here with permission.