Anna Nicole Smith’s Life Examined in Trailer for Netflix Doc ‘You Don’t Know Me’

The footage from the film, which debuts next month, focuses on the ups and downs for the model, actress and reality TV personality, who died in 2007 at age 39.

Anna Nicole Smith's life is center stage in the trailer for Netflix's upcoming documentary about the late star.

The streamer released its first spot Monday for Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me, set to debut May 16. Featuring never-before-seen footage, home videos and interviews, the film will document Smith's life, from her Houston upbringing to her rise to fame that included the cover of Playboy, modeling for Guess and appearing in such Hollywood projects as the 1994 film Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult and E! series The Anna Nicole Show. Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in February 2007 at age 39.

Related Stories

As the TV Drama Bubble Bursts, Producers Look to Indie Film for New Models

&'Love Is Blind&' Season 4 Live Reunion Was One Big Saga of Apologies

"I would just advise people just to follow their dreams," Smith says in the footage. "They can come true. I'm living proof."

Among the topics covered in the new project is her legal battle over the estate of husband J. Howard Marshall, an oil billionaire who died at age 90 in 1995, a year after the couple tied the knot.

"I feel like many previous books and films about Anna Nicole twisted her narrative, so I felt fortunate to have access to a wealth of audio and TV interviews including personal phone calls that involved Anna Nicole," director Ursula Macfarlane (Untouchable) told Netflix's Tudum website. "I really feel like she is telling her own story in her own words. And with the contributions of people in her life who genuinely knew her, I feel that we've been able to get closer to her truth."

Among the interview subjects shedding light on the star, whose real name was Vickie Lynn Hogan, is her longtime friend Melissa Byrum, who shares memories about the pair's time together.

The Hollywood Reporter reported last year that a biopic about Smith's life from Killing Eve director Francesca Gregorini had been shopped at the European Film Market.

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me launches May 16.