Anna Nicole Smith‘s daughter Dannielynn Birkhead has paid tribute to her late mother in the most heart-warming way.
The 18-year-old rewore one of Anna’s old dresses to the 2025 Barnstable Brown Gala, which was originally worn by the late actress at the same event in 2004.
Dannielynn’s father, Larry Birkhead, shared the details about the dress on social media.
“Kicking off @kentuckyderby weekend with Dannielynn. First up, The Barnstable-Brown Gala,” he wrote.
“Dannielynn is wearing Anna Nicole’s dress that she wore 21 years ago to this same event. Life full circle. She said she chose the dress because it was her Mum’s and ‘super cool’.”
Celebrating an annual tradition, Dannielynn Birkhead also recently attended the 2025 Kentucky Derby alongside her father – an event the duo attend each year.
Their sweet father-daughter appearances offer a rare glimpse into the life of Dannielynn following the loss of her famous mother in 2007.
Dannielynn wore a Mac Duggal pale green strapless tulle dress for the occasion, with her hair cut short and styled in glamorous curls similar to her mother’s iconic blonde locks. She accessorised the look with jewels pulled from Anna’s personal collection, including a gold pendant necklace, a gold watch, stacked bangles and a feathered fascinator.
Dannielynn attended the 2025 Kentucky Derby alongside her father. (Credit: Getty)
In an interview with People, Larry joked that they consider the Kentucky Derby weekend their own “Met Gala” of sorts.
“The stakes are always high on these outfits. People come to me and ask, ‘What is Dannielynn wearing? Are you going to match?’ The problem is the dresses keep getting more expensive!” he said.
Larry added that he has saved every outfit that his daughter has ever worn to the Derby.
“There’s a whole storage bin devoted to all of her Derby dresses from when she was a baby,” he says.
“And everything she has of her mom’s is catalogued in storage, with photos of the event where she wore it. So someday, she can give them to her kids if she wants to.”
Danni was just five months old when her mother passed away from a drug overdose in 2007, at the age of 39.
Larry, who is raising his daughter as a single father, revealed in 2017 how important Danni’s mother is to her.
During a chat on Good Morning America, the proud dad shared that his at-the-time-10-year-old wrote a letter about how colouring in helped her connect to Anna.
“Ever since my mother’s death, a friend of hers said she would send me pretty butterflies,” Dannielynn had written.
“So, butterflies chase me everywhere and I let the butterfly come out of my pencil and fly on my paper with its wings of love.”
Larry sees so much of his former partner in his daughter.
“She reminds me so much of her mum and as she gets older, and her features are changing, it’s just like having a little miniature Anna Nicole running around in so many ways,” he mused during an interview with ET.
Below, we round up a collection of photos of Dannielynn Birkhead over the years.
2024
2024
(Credit: Getty)
2023
2022
2019
2017
2015
2013
2011
2009
