Anna Nicole Smith story becomes an opera

The life of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith is being turned into an opera, The Independent reports.

The production, due to be staged at the London Royal Opera House, is being made by the people behind Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Writer Richard Thomas said: "It's an incredible story. It's very operatic and sad.

"She was quite a smart lady with the tragic flaw that she could not seem to get through life without a vat of prescription painkillers."

Following Smith's death, her daughter Dannielynn was the subject of a protracted paternity case. The model's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead was eventually named the child's father.

However, Thomas said he isn't interested in portraying the events after Smith's death.

"For me, it ends when she does," Thomas said. "It's an American story. I love American culture. Especially for opera, the stories seem to work on a grander, more epic scale."