Larry Birkhead paid nearly $3,000 at an auction Saturday for lingerie worn by late ex Anna Nicole Smith in a Playboy shoot.

Birkhead explained he paid $1,800 for a pink bustier and $1,000 for a white negligee because he wanted to give their 1-year-old daughter Dannielynn a keepsake of her mother.

"I have a lot of history I have to put together that she doesn't really know about," he told the Associated Press. "Playboy was such a big part of Anna's career.

"You know, it's not something I can show today, but something down the road," he added. "It's not going to be in any bedtime stories anytime soon."

While others might condemn Birkhead for buying Anna Nicole's used underwear (the sort of skeevy practice usually reserved for Japanese businessmen), we applaud him. Sure, a bustier is a little provocative to give to a one-year-old, but this is the same child Anna Nicole underfed to keep "sexy." We imagine Birkhead is merely carrying out Anna Nicole's wishes, and we look forward to the day that dad and daughter can truly bond: by watching extended outtakes from Anna Nicole's role in the deliciously terrible Skyscraper.

• Larry Birkhead Buys Anna Nicole Smith's Old Lingerie for Dannielynn [Us Magazine]

For starters, there's the sickening voiceover ("this is as close as [Dannielynn] will come to her mother") and the fact that Birkhead hasn't gotten around to taking care of a gravestone for Anna Nicole yet (it's nearly been a year!). Then there's the whole issue of compensation (if anyone who knows how much money traded hands here, please email us). Lastly, there's truly atrocious outro promo copy ("for more on Danniellyn's visit to her mom's grave, go to [URL redacted] and click the 'Get It' button!"). Nice work, jackals! Now excuse us while we go hurl.

"They had arranged to wait in some bushes at the cemetery. They took pictures of Larry pretending to be sad and emotional at the grave site. Only the Splash guys weren't quite satisfied, so they asked him to do it again, and for me to get out of the picture. We did three takes. That was the first sign to me that Larry was in it for the money." [...]

Speer adds, "I was with Larry when he went to meet Howard at the Horizon mansion [in the Bahamas]. It was a secret meeting, where he got to see Dannielynn. ... I heard Howard tell Larry that he'd give him custody of the baby if he [would allow] Stern to remain as executor of the estate. Larry said, 'I'll think about it.'

It seems to us hasty to presume Birkhead harbors purely opportunistic motives, simply because a cemetery visit was accompanied by tabloid photographers insisting he tilt his head up and give his best "Why not me, God?" face. Until Speer recalls the evening he witnessed the chunky-highlighted new dad holding up a check and purring to his supposed former nemesis, "How about a romantic lobster dinner for two, courtesy of my Oscar-caliber acting ability and that nosy teen you expertly disposed of, Mr. Hunky Lawyerstein?" we'll refrain from rushing to judgment.

• Guard: Larry Birkhead posed at Anna Nicole's son's grave [nydailynews.com]

• Exclusive: Dannielynn at Her Party! [theinsideronline.com]

· Both Birkhead and Stern are vowing to sue the cheap dye jobs off Cosby and her sources, in what Birkhead vowed would be "one of the most expensive lawsuit settlements in book-publishing history," making Dannielynn profitable in ways he didn't even anticipate. [AP]
· "But what about that time Larry, Howard, and Anna Nicole partied the night away at WeHo's 2005 Gay Pride Festival?" you're likely asking yourselves (or not, depending on how closely you follow this story and/or lead fulfilling lives). Larry tells Us: "I was a photographer. My camera is around my neck in every picture." We don't see a camera around his neck in this shot, but we do see some drunken, proud good times. [Us]
· Larry has yet to update his website. Get on it, Larry! These clarifications are months old. [larrybirkhead.net]

Sordid passages in the soon-to-be released book by former MSNBC journalist Rita Cosby describe how Anna Nicole and her friend allegedly caught Stern and Birkhead with their shirts off and their pants around their ankles in a Los Angeles home.

Jackie Hatten, described in the book as one of Anna Nicole's closest friends, said the men were engaged in oral sex.

The shocking book accuses Birkhead and Stern of cutting a secret deal after Anna Nicole was buried in March, with Birkhead getting custody of Dannielynn in return for Stern being named executor of the star's estate.

The former stripper knew both Birkhead and Stern were gay, the book alleges.

The tell-all claims Anna Nicole would spread out on her bed and watch a video allegedly showing Birkhead and Stern having oral sex "over and over" while Stern worked on his computer in their Bahamas home. [...]

The book claims Birkhead gave Smith cocktails of drugs and watched as Stern allegedly gave medication to Anna Nicole while she was attached to an IV drip in the hospital during her pregnancy.

Birkhead and Stern have since denied the allegations and threatened to sue, saying Hatten is an emotionally unbalanced stalker whose own brother, Mark "Hollywood" Hatten, is currently serving time for also obsessively targeting Anna Nicole. Cosby, meanwhile, is standing firmly behind her claims, saying she hasn't seen the Birkhead-on-Stern visual evidence, but has spoken to people who have. One thing is certain: Beyond appealing to a tiny subgroup of slashfic-penning scandal fetishists, this video will likely be the least-demanded Smith A/V material since her tit-job tape made the plastic surgery convention rounds.

• Anna Nicole Smith book claims Birkhead & Stern were lovers; cut deal on baby, estate [NY Daily News]
• Larry Birkhead fuming over lies, gay sex talk in Anna Nicole Smith book [NY Daily News]

Rumors are swirling about the book, Blond Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death, due out next week. TMZ has heard Cosby will say she has documents that prove Larry Birkhead essentially bought the baby from Howard K. Stern. The publisher is mum until next Tuesday.

OK! magazine will preview the tome next week. Birkhead says, "OK! is on notice those allegations are false, and if they print them as truth, they will be sued as well." Birkhead adds, "I'll go after any media outlet that prints those lies from that book."

For the sake of Birkhead, so far the least skeezy-seeming party in this whole sordid epic, we hope it's not true — or, that he got a receipt with an exchange policy, because imagine the buyer's remorse from finding out you illegally paid for a baby that DNA tests claim should've been yours from the get-go for free.

• Birkhead to Rita — Say That And I'll Sue You [TMZ]

American magazine OK! has made the shock decision to drop Anna Nicole's ex Larry Birkhead from a $US1.7 million deal, alleging he has "tricked us all".

The magazine has not revealed the exact reason for the decision, however it is reported to be based on rumours Birkhead struck a "backroom deal" with Howard K Stern, his supposed long-standing rival.

The magazine's publicist said: "OK! Magazine has uncovered explosive allegations regarding Larry Birkhead, Howard K. Stern and baby Danielynn [...] The newly obtained allegations are detailed, shocking and potentially incriminating. It makes it impossible for OK!, in good conscience, to promote this family's highly questionable relationship in our pages." [...]

OK's American editor Sarah Ivens said: "My biggest fear is that Larry and Howard may have tricked us all."

We didn't realize that "backroom deal" is what the kids are calling it these days. But listen, whether or not they've lied about their daily sausage intake, these guys have had a rough year. If the only place they can find solace and peace is in each other's rippling arms, then we say, nibble away. It's only giving Dannielynn a rosier future, living rich off the residual fat of a Lifetime movie entitled, Lust Triangle: Love My Mother, Love Each Other: The Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead née Stern Story. We're getting misty already.

• Magazine cancels $1.7 million deal with Larry Birkhead [Daily Mail]

"Larry says that it's important Dannielynn knows about her mom," his older sister, Judy Birkhead tells Us.

"He's always telling Dannielynn how much he loved Anna and how great she was."

Birkhead, 34, has put photos of Dannielynn's mom everywhere. "He'll point at pictures and show Dannielynn videos of her too," Judy says.

Smith also set aside keepsakes for her daughter - including letters she had written for her - that Birkhead is saving for when the baby grows up.

Longtime friend Jane Rose-Zupetz tells Us, "When Anna was pregnant, she painted a lot for Dannielynn. Larry will give her those, also."

It's comforting to think that while the average toddler might be subjected to the cartoonish and monstrous imagery of Nick Jr.'s Yo Gabba Gabba!, Dannielynn will instead be gurgling contentedly to the soothing sights and sounds of Seasons 1 through 3 of The Anna Nicole Smith Show, or, for something a little more personal, the drugged clown makeup footage sensitively lensed by perpetually lurking lawyer-figure, Howard K. Stern.

• Dannielynn Loves Home Movies of Her Mom [Usmagazine.com]

"She has long legs and chubby little toes exactly like Anna's; it's like a mirror image," Birkhead tells OK! magazine in its latest issue. "It's really incredible. And I think her lips are her mom's lips; especially when she pouts. ... She also gets what she wants exactly like her mom always did as soon as she'd pout."

He's hired a nanny to help out with Dannielynn.

"She's just there to assist me, not to take over any parenting. ... I'm really hands-on, like too hands-on with my hand on the baby, a hand on the cellphone, a hand on the diaper," says Birkhead, who jokes that he has "a supersonic sense of smell when it comes to diapers."

While some might question the hiring by Birkhead—whose livelihood appears to now be entirely tied to Dannielynn-related enterprises—of full-time childcare, the single dad can always defend the measure by insisting that she's not so much a "nanny" as she is "My First Personal Assistant," and that her current duties like fetching bottles of warm formula and wiping off spit-up might naturally evolve in Dannielynn's later, adult years into tasks like latte-runs and wiping off spit-up.

• Birkhead: Dannielynn looks like Anna Nicole Smith [USAToday.com/AP]

[UPDATED: 1:38 PM] LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (May 1, 2007) — Dannielynn Birkhead has touched down in her dad's hometown for the very first time. The plane carrying the daughter of photographer Larry Birkhead and the late model Anna Nicole Smith just landed in Louisville, Kentucky. [...]

On the plane with Birkhead, Access Hollywood's own Tony Potts confirmed the child had a pleasant flight. "She ate, slept, played and ate again," he recounted. "She barely even fussed." [...]

"Blue grass, here we come," Potts reported, adding, "Dannielynn is sleepy now."

Thanks for the updates, Uncle Tony! With Dannielynn safe and sound on domestic soil, and her U.S. passport issued, it seems nothing at all can stop proud papa Larry, his bundle of naturalized joy, and their entourage of cameramen and creepily intrusive showbiz TV reporters from achieving their dreams—except perhaps Grammie Virgie "Slugger" Arthur, whose petition-filing parade we imagine is approaching the vicinity of Louisville.

• Dannielynn Birkhead Reaches Louisville, Kentucky [AccessHollywood.com]