Howard K: Anna Talked of Dying "Like Marilyn Monroe"

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Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer-turned-lover Howard K. Stern appeared before a court of law on Tuesday in an effort to determine where Smith should be buried. Stern -- who is currently waging a paternity battle with photographer Larry Birkhead over Smith’s infant daughter Dannielynn – took to the witness stand in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he described the nature of his relationship with Smith. Stern, who was Smith’s attorney, revealed that he and the former Playboy Playmate became "more than friends" two years ago but kept their relationship a secret. He also told the judge that Smith was obsessed with death, saying, "She talked of death really from the time that I met her.” He continued, "Anna in a lot of ways thought she was going to die young and thought she was going to be like Marilyn Monroe. She[also] thought she was going to die giving birth to Dannielynn." Smith's son, Daniel, died at the age of 20 last September, just three days after the birth of Dannielynn. He was later buried in the Bahamas where Smith and Stern had been living. "She died emotionally when Daniel died,” Stern said. “She had real problems accepting Daniel was gone. She had people open the casket and she was just inconsolable and was hugging him and wanted to go down with him.” He added, "For the most part, Anna didn't leave her room[when Daniel died]." Stern, 38, added that Daniel Smith was "like a brother" to him. "Daniel was a great boy and a wonderful wonderful person." Strangely, though Stern described Smith as his "whole world,” he claimed that her heart belonged to the late J. Howard Marshall III, the 89-year-old oil billionaire whom Smith wed in 1994 at the age of 26 (he died one year later). Stern said of Marshall, "He was truly, truly the love of her life.”