WikiLeaks: Playboy model Anna Nicole enticed the Bahamas

LONDON - The “titillating details” of sex symbol and Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith’s affairs “enticed” the Bahamas, said a confidential US cable, which added that “not since the Category 4 Hurricane Betsy hit the island in 1965 has one woman done as much damage in Nassau”.

The US cable, titled “Hurricane Anna Nicole wreaks havoc in the Bahamas” and put out by WikiLeaks, said: “Not since Wallis Simpson dethroned a king and moved to Nassau has an American femme fatale so captivated the Bahamian public and dominated local politics than Anna Nicole Smith did during her time on the island.”

The Guardian quoted the cable as saying that the titillating details of the sordid affairs of the Anna Nicole saga “enticed” Bahamians and changed the face of the island’s politics.

One of two 2006 memos said: “Not since the Category 4 Hurricane Betsy hit the island in 1965,” it says, “has one woman done as much damage in Nassau.”

Anna Nicole Smith died a year later, aged 39, from a prescription drug overdose in a Florida hotel room.

The media report said that in September 2006 the media were highly critical when Smith allegedly provided a $10,000 cheque directly to Immigration Minister, Shane Gibson, after her residency application was approved in a month. Critics said the process typically takes at least a year.

Gibson had claimed that Smith had been treated like any other applicant. But his claim was “shattered” when photos were published after the model’s death that showed Smith and Gibson “in a bedroom embrace”.

Gibson was forced to resign after it emerged that he and his family had financially benefited from their relationship with Smith.

“The Anna Nicole scandal has recast Gibson as puppet of the privileged rather than defender of the common people of The Bahamas,” one of two memos noted.

The cable went on to say that the “titillating details of Anna Nicole’s sordid affairs have enticed the Bahamian public to give renewed focus to government indiscretions”.