Tabloid tales reveal how Hollywood stars crashed back to Earth

Hong Kong's social set can't hold a candle to the constellation of stars in Hollywood and their tabloid fodder friends on both sides of the Atlantic - and thank goodness for that.

The death of former Playmate Anna Nicole Smith became a media circus over which of the men in her life was the father of her infant daughter. The 39-year-old's drug overdose in February came just months after the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel.

Media outlets around the globe followed every detail of the story - diet drinks and methadone in the fridge - less out of respect for Smith and her family than out of curiosity as to who would inherit the fortune she left behind bequeathed by her late husband, Texas oil billionaire Howard Marshall.

A DNA test proved young Dannielynn to be the daughter of photographer Larry Birkhead, and not Smith's long-time attorney turned lover, Howard Stern. Nor had Smith become pregnant, as rumours had it, using frozen sperm from Marshall, who was a ripe 90 years old when he died in 1995.

The moral of Smith's story was seemingly lost on a gaggle of other 'celebutantes' who got themselves in all kinds of trouble this past year. Paris Hilton led the pack by going to jail for 23 days after violating the probation she was serving for a drink-driving conviction in May.

Hilton's billionaire grandfather said last week that he would leave 97 per cent of his US$2.3 billion fortune to charity, giving the now former heiress a comparative pittance. The move is not likely to change the party princess' lifestyle dramatically. Forbes magazine recently estimated that the star of The Simple Life last year earned US$7 million from the TV show, her perfume line and appearances.