Afterlives of the Rich and Famous Read online

  Her very well endowed body attracted Hollywood attention, and she accepted the inevitable acting offers that came along, with no particular talent or success to show for them. By the late 1990s she’d reached that peculiar status of “famous for being famous,” and between a conspicuous weight gain, ongoing litigation over her late husband’s fortune, and increasingly bizarre behavior that often included slurred, almost incoherent speech in public, she became a tabloid staple. She ultimately attracted the attention of the E! cable network and, in 2002, The Anna Nicole Show, a “reality” series portraying her personal life in which her son, Daniel, was her constant companion and caretaker, enjoyed a dubious two-year run.

  Her ongoing weight problem inspired an offer from a diet pill company called TrimSpa, and she became their spokesperson in 2003, reportedly losing sixty-nine pounds during her contract with them. By 2004 her behavior had become so alarmingly peculiar that rumors of drug problems were impossible to dismiss.

  In the summer of 2006 Anna Nicole announced on her website that she was pregnant, and she was ecstatic at the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn, on September 7 at Doctors Hospital in the Bahamas. She’d been in a “secret relationship” with her attorney Howard K. Stern long enough that he believed he was the biological father and signed the birth certificate, although her former boyfriend, photographer Larry Birkhead, believed he was the father and sued to establish paternity.

  Tragically, just three days after the birth of Dannielynn, Anna Nicole’s beloved Daniel, who’d arrived to meet his new baby sister, died in his mother’s hospital room of an apparent drug overdose at the age of twenty. The devastating death of Daniel, the paternity lawsuit over Dannielynn, and the ongoing rumors of addictions threw Anna Nicole into a relentless media spotlight, during which she tried to stabilize her emotional chaos by pledging her devotion to Howard K. Stern in a not legally binding commitment ceremony.

  On February 8, 2007, Anna Nicole Smith was found unconscious in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Efforts to resuscitate her failed, and she died at the age of thirty-nine from what was ultimately ruled to be an accidental drug overdose involving nine different prescription medications, although no illegal drugs were found in her system.

  The tabloid and legal frenzies over Anna Nicole Smith didn’t end with her death, as the paternity and custody suit between Howard K. Stern and Larry Birkhead over Dannielynn proceeded in front of a national television audience. DNA tests finally established that the baby girl was the child of Larry Birkhead, and he was immediately granted custody of her.

  In 2010, Howard K. Stern and one of Anna Nicole’s doctors were found guilty of charges involving her use of prescription drugs. And the endless legal battle regarding the estate of Anna Nicole’s husband J. Howard Marshall rages on, in the name of her daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead.

  From Francine

  Anna Nicole was only on her second incarnation, which explains why she was so oddly naïve throughout her life and had such a difficult time understanding whom to trust. As often happens when writing a chart in the perfect bliss of Home, she designed a lifetime of excesses, temptations, and chaos she was convinced she’d be strong enough and have faith enough to overcome. She compounded her upcoming challenges by choosing the two very difficult life themes of Rejection and Manipulator and charting herself to suffer from a bipolar disorder, which was never properly treated. (Sylvia often compares the exaggerated bravado of writing our charts in an atmosphere of sacred perfection to shopping for groceries when you’re very hungry.) Anna Nicole’s sincere but overzealous courage in preparation for her latest brief trip to earth was bolstered by the fact that she charted her father from her first incarnation to be by her side, in the form of her son, Daniel.

  Daniel welcomed his mother Home before she even emerged from the tunnel, and he never left her side until she was safely cocooned. Only after she was healed and euphorically clear-headed again was she ready to proceed to the Scanning Machine, which she found as enlightening and cathartic as most spirits do. She understands exactly why, for example, she leapt at the Exit Point she chose, even though it was so soon after the birth of her daughter: not only was the thought of staying behind on earth without her son unimaginable, but she also felt her life had spiraled far enough out of control that she couldn’t possibly be the stable, adoring, attentive parent her baby, Dannielynn, deserved. She knew with absolute certainty who her daughter’s father was, she knew he would fight for custody of her and win, and she wants all concerned to know that she and Daniel were and will be present at every court hearing that involves the welfare of her child. As for the upcoming years of litigation not involving Dannielynn, she simply says, “I’m happy. I’m at peace. My daughter is where she belongs, and I’m grateful that my son and I are Home and healthy. The rest is between the litigants and God.” She also sought out and had a sweet reunion with her husband J. Howard Marshall, for whom she cared deeply “and always will,” all appearances and rumors to the contrary.

  Her greatest regret is that she charted herself to be surrounded by any number of people she trusted to have her best interests at heart “and then made it impossible for anyone who tried to protect me from myself.” She would love to believe that someone, “even if it’s only one person,” will avoid that same trap after witnessing her decline on television and in the tabloids, and she adds, “What I never understood about being famous until it was too late is that it doesn’t come with an ‘off’ button. Therefore, neither did I.”

  Her life on the Other Side is a study in simplicity. She lives alone in a small yellow house by a river. (Daniel lives nearby, and although they’re extremely close, he has a very active, very social life of his own.) Her visage is deliberately ordinary; she is short and round, with plain features and shoulder-length thin brown hair pulled straight back and tied at the nape of her neck. She’s resumed her interest in Buddhism and is training to become a meditation teacher.

  She frequently visits and reads to her daughter. She plans to reincarnate someday, but she’s in no hurry, and next time she’ll come without Daniel, an advanced soul who has no intention of leaving Home again.

  John Belushi

  Brilliant comedian, actor, and musician John Adam Belushi was born on January 24, 1949, in Chicago to Albanian immigrants Adam and Agnes Belushi. Adam managed a restaurant while Agnes worked as a cashier, and the Belushis raised their four children in the Albanian Orthodox Church. John knew from childhood that he wanted to be a performer, and in addition to being a popular class clown throughout his school years, he was also the captain of his high-school football team and played drums in a rock band. John and his future wife, Judy Jacklin, met as sophomores at Wheaton Central High School and were married from 1976 until his death in 1982.

  He performed in summer stock between high-school graduation and starting college. He attended the University of Wisconsin and then the College of DuPage. After graduating in 1970, he successfully auditioned for Chicago’s legendary Second City improvisational troupe, where he was an instant hit with his uncannily hilarious impersonations of Marlon Brando and Joe Cocker. Second City stardom led to a role in an off-Broadway production of National Lampoon’s Lemmings. His rave reviews in that sketch-comedy show attracted the attention of Lorne Michaels, who hired John for a new late-night comedy series he’d created called Saturday Night Live.

  John Belushi and the rest of the original Saturday Night Live cast made their first appearance on October 11, 1975, the show was a hit from the beginning, and John quickly became one of its most popular stars. Whether he was wielding a sword as an eyebrow-arching samurai, waddling around in a killer-bee costume, or doing impressions of everyone from Elizabeth Taylor to Truman Capote, he was magnetic and irresistibly talented. He and his friend and cast mate Dan Aykroyd developed a musical duo called the Blues Brothers during their years on Saturday Night Live, which resulted in an album (Briefcase Full of Blues) and a national tour with a backup b
and.

  During a between-seasons hiatus from SNL, John made his first and possibly his best-known feature film, Animal House. Rumors of runaway drug use among some of the SNL cast were rampant by 1978 when Animal House came out, and the majority of the rumors centered on John and his reported love of cocaine.

  His next films were disappointing despite their seeming potential—Goin’ South was a western starring Jack Nicholson, and Old Boyfriends gave John an opportunity at a dramatic role opposite Talia Shire. John left Saturday Night Live in 1979 to focus exclusively on his film career, and he made three of his next four movies with his friend, former SNL cast mate, and fellow Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd—1941, directed by Steven Spielberg; Neighbors; and The Blues Brothers. Only 1981’s Continental Divide, a romantic comedy, featured Belushi without Aykroyd.

  By early 1982 John was working on several new projects, including a screenplay with former SNL cast mate Don Novello. He was also spinning farther and farther out of control when it came to his drug use. On March 5, 1982, he was in his room at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles with a small group of people that included, separately and briefly by most accounts, Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro. Finally, alone with a woman named Cathy Smith, he collapsed and died from a combined injection of cocaine and heroin known on the street as a “speedball.” His death was initially ruled an accidental drug overdose, but Cathy Smith subsequently informed the National Enquirer that she’d personally administered the speedball that killed John Belushi. As a result of her Enquirer interview, she was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served fifteen months in prison.

  John Belushi died at the age of thirty-three, far sooner than his devoted wife, family, friends, and legions of fans were ready to say good-bye. He’s buried near his house on Martha’s Vineyard, Chilmark, Massachusetts.

  From Francine

  John was welcomed back to the Other Side by a huge crowd of friends from Home and from his fourteen past lives, but first to reach him were two black Labrador retrievers and a Jack Russell terrier, from whom he’s been inseparable since he returned. We had all been watching him carefully, as we do with everyone who seems to be losing control, particularly when we learned from his Spirit Guide, Khalil, that the Council had advised John against reincarnating so soon after his previous life in France in the early twentieth century. It was a life of privilege and excess, and they were concerned that he needed more time to process his growth from that life. But John was eager to exercise the strength and discipline he was convinced he’d mastered, and he was intent on proving it by charting not only a steady exposure to drugs, but also the celebrity status that would make them even more accessible. Sadly, as so often happens, the euphoria of Home impelled him to create a chart for which he wasn’t quite prepared. He does say, though, that three friends he declines to name were inspired enough by the shock of losing him so suddenly that they entered drug programs and became clean and sober, and he is gratified that something positive came from his self-destruction. He never believed he would live to be an old man, but had no conscious premonition that he would not leave his hotel room alive on the night his lifetime ended.

  He is intensely proud of his body of work and his willingness to work hard throughout his life, he says, and he also gives himself credit, with a smile, for being smart enough to chart his marriage to Judy. Without elaborating, he wishes he’d listened to her. He still visits her often and wants her to “pay attention to the bookshelves.”

  He also loves visiting his house on Martha’s Vineyard. He says there’s an elevated gangway or passageway of some kind between the main house and the guest house, and he enjoys standing on that gangway watching storms come in over the Atlantic.

  John is as popular and brilliantly funny here as he was on earth and is always surrounded by large groups of friends. (Contrary to what Sylvia tells me is a commonly held belief, most of us on the Other Side do have senses of humor and love to laugh.) He frequently entertains in his small A-frame cabin on what corresponds to your island of Cyprus, and he continues to perform comedy, to the delight of his parents, whom he was the first to welcome Home. He and his father are especially close companions, their mutual love of the sea expressed through their shared research in the fields of oceanography and marine biology, and through long peaceful journeys together on what John calls his “square rigger” sailing ship. He has no intention of returning to earth for another incarnation.

  Bob Marley

  Legendary singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bob Marley, the man who in his brief lifetime brought unprecedented worldwide attention to reggae music and the Rastafarian faith, was born Robert Nesta Marley on February 6, 1945, in the village of Nine Mile, St. Ann Parish, Jamaica. His father, Norval Marley, was a white British plantation overseer and officer in the Royal Marines, fifty years old when he conceived Bob with his black eighteen-year-old fiancé, Cedella Booker. Norval moved to Kingston before Bob was born and, although he financially supported his wife and son, was an absentee father until his death of a heart attack when Bob was ten. Bob’s interracial heritage made him an object of ridicule during his childhood and remained an issue throughout his life, which he’s quoted as addressing with his trademark Jamaican accent, “Me don’t dip on the black man’s side nor the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.”

  When Bob was fourteen, he left home and school for Kingston, where his music career began. After recording several obscure and not especially successful singles, he formed a quintet called the Wailers with fellow singers Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite, and Beverly Kelso. Their first single, “Simmer Down,” was a major hit in Jamaica in 1964. But in 1965, when Braithwaite and Kelso left the group and the Wailers became a trio, not even their most popular singles received enough royalties to keep them solvent. The Wailers went their separate ways—in Bob’s case, to Newark, Delaware, his mother’s home at the time, where he earned a living as a factory worker for almost a year before returning to Jamaica. In the meantime, he married his girlfriend, Rita Anderson, in 1966, and their first two children were born—Cedella in 1967 and David, nicknamed Ziggy, in 1968.

  The Wailers reunited, made more fairly unsuccessful records, and, most significantly for the rest of Bob’s life, became devout Rastafarians, largely due to Rita’s influence and the continued teachings of Mortimer Planner, one of the faith’s most highly regarded elders. Bob adopted and, through his music, began spreading such basic Rastafari tenets as peace and brotherhood, vegetarianism, and the spiritual use of cannabis.

  The Wailers finally attracted the attention of Chris Blackwell, who signed them to his influential label, Island Records, in 1972, and their album Catch a Fire was their first to be marketed outside of Jamaica. Their second Island Records album, Burnin’, included a Bob Marley song called “I Shot the Sheriff,” which was recorded by British superstar Eric Clapton and helped to elevate Bob’s and the Wailers’ notoriety, and in 1973 the Wailers set out on their first overseas tour.

  By the end of 1973 Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone had left the Wailers to pursue solo careers, and Bob “regrouped,” expanding his instrumental section and recruiting a female trio that included his wife, Rita, to form Bob Marley and the Wailers, who successfully toured Europe and the United States. By 1978 they’d achieved several hits in both England and the United States, and their albums Rastaman Vibration and Exodus soared into the top twenty on America’s pop music charts.

  Bob’s popularity and influence back home in Jamaica had long since given him significant importance not only as a musician, but also as a spokesman on public issues. On December 3, 1976, he, his wife, and his manager, Don Taylor, were shot two days before Bob Marley and the Wailers were due to perform a free concert in support of the progressive Jamaican prime minister Michael Manley. All three survived what was generally believed to be a politically motivated assassination attempt, and Bob appeared at the concert as scheduled
and then promptly left for England.

  In mid-1977, shortly after the release of the Exodus album, Bob discovered that an unhealed wound on his toe was a malignant melanoma. Doctors urged him to have his toe amputated, but his religious beliefs impelled him to refuse. The Exodus promotion tour was abbreviated, but in 1978 the band was back in action, recording the album Kaya and performing in Jamaica’s One Love Peace Concert; later that year Bob was presented with the United Nations’ Peace Medal of the Third World.

  In 1980, after producing several more albums and resuming tours of the United States and Europe, Bob fell ill during a New York City concert in early September and collapsed the next day while jogging through Central Park. He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors discovered that the cancer that started in his toe had spread to his liver, his stomach, and his brain. The prognosis was that he had less than a month to live.

  He bravely and brilliantly performed a concert in Pittsburgh on September 22, but to his profound disappointment he was unable to continue the scheduled U.S. tour. He traveled to Miami and was formally baptized at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and from there he and Rita flew to a treatment center in Germany in an effort to prove the New York doctors wrong.

  When it became apparent that the controversial German therapy wasn’t working, Bob and Rita set out for Jamaica, attempting to honor Bob’s wish to die at home. They got no farther than Miami, where Bob was rushed from the airport to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. He died there on May 11, 1981, at the age of thirty-six.

  Bob Marley was honored with a state funeral in Jamaica attended by the Jamaican prime minister along with hundreds of thousands of mourners. He was laid to rest in a chapel mausoleum in his hometown of Nine Miles. Among his many posthumous honors are his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the BBC’s “Song of the Millennium” award for his classic “One Love,” and Time magazine’s “Album of the Century” award for Exodus.