FROM THE NEWS DESK: Did Anna Nicole Have To Die?

By McKay Heim & George Larrimore

BURBANK, Calif. (February 15, 2007) — That hearing in Miami this morning to sort out Who Gets Anna Nicole’s Body was great theatre. You might have seen some of it on CNN or Court TV. But here at Access Hollywood we had the benefit of being able to watch it all, uninterrupted as it was fed in by satellite. A lot of angry lawyers, a lot of posturing, the charming and prickly little medical examiner and the judge who clearly loves the camera like a baby loves mama. Around here we were picking what star would play who in the TV movie.

But while all this was going on we were getting that nagging feeling, you know the one, that feeling that something needs explaining. In human terms there’s something more important at stake here, right now, than who gets to decide where they put poor Anna Nicole’s remains. We want to know why she died.

The autopsy will probably reveal how, and probably a lot quicker than the 3-5 weeks they were first talking about. Maybe two weeks. And one thing we’ve started looking at is the drug that keeps being mentioned all over the place; methadone. You’ve heard of it, it’s that stuff that heroin addicts go onto in order to get off of China White. Back in the day it was supposed to be a kind of junkie’s miracle drug. Methadone Maintenance was a plan that was supposed to allow heroin addicts to ease off of addiction to heroin and ease back into being straight. Well this stuff ain’t aspirin. It’s very strong stuff. And there now appears that she may have been using the stuff up to and including the time she delivered darling little Dannielynn.

First clue comes courtesy of those hard working folks over at TMZ.com. Don’t ask me how they got them but they have a prescription receipt for Methadone, prescribed to someone named ‘Michelle Chase.’ Supposedly that’s an alias that Anna liked to use. With an address on North Ashdale in Los Angeles. That got our curiosity up. That address, the one on the form, doesn’t appear to exist. But another address does exist for ANS on North Ashdale. Except that the neighbors told our guy today that she hasn’t lived there in nine years.

So a doctor allegedly wrote a prescription to someone who allegedly was going by a phony name, with an address that didn’t exist. Somebody ought to talk to that doctor. We did. And now a lot more people are asking questions about Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, Anna Nicole?s personal doctor. The guy who prescribed ‘Michelle Chase’ Methadone just 13 days before she gave birth, a package that was delivered to Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas.

We first talked to him was last Thursday. He told us that he had seen Anna Nicole in May and ?she was very happy.? He also said that she ?was having a great pregnancy. And he said she was “really following orders for the most part.? When we asked him about Anna Nicole being on drugs, Dr. Kapoor said, ?she had a healthy baby girl. She is a very strong woman and there’s the baby didn’t have any withdrawals. The baby was healthy so it’s obvious that she was not taking drugs.”

Then we tried to get Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, of Studio City, to talk again. Had him booked yesterday afternoon and he cancelled. Then we re-booked for later in the evening. Cancelled again. Now there’s no crime in canceling an interview, even twice. Maybe he was working late. He was spotted last night, coming out of his office with a coat over his head. Was it raining last night in L.A?

Well this made us ask (aren’t we thinking a lot?) a number of questions about Methadone, so we called the Waismann Institute and got some answers.
What is Methadone?

It?s a replacement drug; a manmade narcotic, but the difference between Methadone and a street drug is that is that it lasts longer in the system – making it an extremely addictive drug. Most of the time it comes in a liquid form. It is used as a pain reliever and as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs.

What are effects of mixing with other medications or alcohol?

It all depends upon the person, their metabolism and the amount of fat cells that a person has on which the methadone can adhere. Depending upon what types of medications are being taken alongside the Methadone, the side effects can range. But when mixed with alcohol, the story is different. The methadone slows the metabolism and the blood that is sent to the heart. This combination could be very lethal, because a lack of oxygen gets to the brain and breathing slows. Oftentimes the combination causes nausea, a patient then will vomit and can choke on the vomit.

Tune in to Access Hollywood for more answers on what Methadone really is, and how it may be connected to the Anna Nicole Mystery.

When will the Late Night Guys think a Decent Interval has passed and start making Anna Nicole jokes? This whole thing about Dannielynn’s Family Tree must have the writers on Leno and Letterman snapping their pencils in frustration. And a couple of new twists on that end of the string today. Prince Van Anhalt (Zsa Zsa Gabor’s wandering hubby) said he was filing papers to get in line to be declared daddy. And a guy who is the brother of one of Anna Nicole’s friends says that he might (might being the operative word here) be the daddy because he gave her a sample of his….sperm. And he “filed” his request on a legal pad, in pen. Because he was writing from prison. (‘Judge, you gotta let me go to Miami to give a DNA sample.!’)

One guy did put this in some kind of perspective for us today on Access Hollywood. Elton John. As you know he wrote Candle In The Wind for Marilyn Monroe, a woman that Anna Nicole idolized, almost worshipped. Elton noted that MM was a movie star, the real thing, and that Anna Nicole was a product of today’s television. But he did have sympathy for her as someone who stayed under the spotlight too long and got fried. And as we noted in our story today there are parallels; Both were full-figured blondes who died before they were 40. Both had tragic histories, both misunderstood in life. Drugs believed involved in both their deaths. But Marilyn had the Kennedy connection, the alleged romance with a virile young President. Bill Clinton, if anything happened between you and Anna Nicole, keep it to yourself.

We’re looking for your e-mails on Hard News out of Hollywood; McGeorge.news@nbcuni.com.