While turning up buck naked in Playboy might tarnish some models' careers, it only helped launch Anna Nicole Smith's into the sensual stratosphere. A former Red Lobster waitress and Wal-Mart cashier, the big-boned, small-town gal from Mexia, Tex. (pop. 7,000), appeared in Playboy's May 1992 centerfold and shortly thereafter was signed by Paul Marciano to follow Claudia Schiffer as the Guess? jeans girl. With her 5-foot-11-inch, full-figured, come-hither- but-don't-mess-with-me looks, Smith, 25, is a vivid contrast to the waifish grungettes wisping through America's magazines. And you'll be seeing a lot of her: She has just been crowned Playboy Playmate for 1993 (her Playmate of the Year video debuted at No. 3 on Video Business's sales chart), appears in Bryan Ferry's ''Will You Love Me Tomorrow'' video, and has a small role in the Coen brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy, out in November. The divorced Smith's ''best boyfriend''? Her 7-year-old son, Daniel.
Do you have a love affair with the camera?
I love it. I have a
deep passion for the camera, and it loves me right back. We have a
good relationship going on right now.
But you didn't have quite so idyllic a relationship with your
ex-husband (whom Smith divorced in 1987 after two years of marriage).
He was very abusive. I was too scared to fight back, afraid I might
hurt him or he might hurt me more; I left when Daniel was born. My
ex-husband's been in his room ever since I left, in his parents'
house. He has circles under his eyes—and his hair is whiter than
mine.
Since you're the sex symbol of the moment, do you have a problem
with men coming on to you all the time? They don't come on to me at
all.
I don't know what it is. At guest appearances, maybe, a guy
might ask, ''You wanna go out?'' Stuff like that. But in the
business—like models or actors—no one has approached me, no one
serious.
Maybe because they're gay?
No one's told me that. I've noticed
that. I've noticed that a lot.
Are you a feminist?
I don't understand that question.
Do you fight for women's rights?
Whoever started that, I could
kick them in the head. I believe in women staying home and watching
the children while the husband's at work—the traditional way. I would
have been home with my family right now, except for my husband.
What heinous things go on in the kitchen at the Red Lobster? I'm not going to tell what fast-food places are like—just don't ever make anyone mad, and don't send anything back.
Who do you think is sexier-Madonna or Sharon Stone?
Oh, gosh,
neither. I'm upset with Sharon Stone because she was offered the
Marilyn Monroe part (in The Immortals, about Monroe's affair with
JFK), and she looks nothing like her. I wanted that part. To me,
she's not a Marilyn Monroe type—she doesn't have a womanly figure.
She also got offered the role in the Flintstones movie (a secretary
named Sharon Stone) I later tried out for.
And Madonna?
She plays good music, that's all I can say. She should
definitely stick to that. I used to like her in the old days, when
she was nice, before all the fame and fortune got to her. She was
approached for Marilyn Monroe too. I would have thrown up—no, don't
put that in.
