DNA testing has confirmed that Larry Birkhead, a former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, is the father of her infant daughter.

DNA testing has proven that Larry Birkhead, a former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, is the father of the late Playboy Playmate's infant daughter. A hearing regarding custody of the baby girl is scheduled for Nassau on Friday.
(Tim Aylen/Associated Press)

"I hate to be the one that told you this, but I told you so," a triumphant Birkhead declared in a press conference immediately after exiting a closed court hearing on Dannielynn Smith's paternity in Nassau, Bahamas, on Tuesday afternoon.

The next step is a custody hearing set for Nassau on Friday. As Smith's sole surviving heir, the baby could stand to inherit a fortune.

Howard K. Stern, Smith's partner at the time of her death and the man who was originally listed as the father on the baby's birth certificate, said he would not fight Birkhead for custody, but would "fight to make sure he [Birkhead] gets sole custody."

A third party involved in the proceedings — Smith's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur — has previously expressed a desire for custody of the infant. On Tuesday, upon leaving the hearing, she said she "just wants to be the grandmother."

One of Arthur's lawyers, however, pointed out that joint custody could be awarded in this case and that they will be "discussing that issue further."

Before her death, Anna Nicole Smith had been fighting for a share of the fortune left behind by her husband, 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who died the year after they married.
(Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)

The announcement settles one of the legal battles the late model and Playboy Playmate left in the wake of her sudden death in early February from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

A former exotic dancer, Smith rose to fame as a Playboy Playmate and sometime fashion model in the mid-1990s. She was also known for her May-December marriage to 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who died the year after they married.

For the past decade, Smith has been fighting Marshall's family for her share of his estimated $500 million US fortune — an ongoing legal battle which could one day make her infant daughter very wealthy.

Just three days after Smith gave birth to her daughter in the Bahamas last September, her 20-year-old son Daniel died mysteriously. A private pathologist concluded that he died from a lethal combination of methadone and two antidepressants.

With files from the Associated Press.