• Houston Chronicle, Thursday, November 8, 2007 11 AM

The mother of dead Playboy playmate and reality show star Anna Nicole Smith is suing a Houston TV station, CBS Studios Inc., and the late model's former companion, Howard K. Stern, for libel. Virgie Arthur claims Stern arranged for Smith to appear in an "Entertainment Tonight" interview where she said Arthur was complicit in her alleged childhood physical and sexual abuse. The program aired on KPRC in Houston a week after Smith died. CBS Studios produces the show, broadcast locally on NBC affiliate KPRC.

Those statements have hurt Arthur's chances of getting custody and visitation rights for her granddaughter, Dannielynn, the suit charges. She also accuses the trio of exposing her to humiliation and trashing her reputation as a "caring, honest and law-abiding retired peace officer." Lawyers for KPRC say the station has been improperly included in the case because it only aired a satellite feed and had no "involvement in the reporting, production or content of the program" or "knowledge of the alleged defamatory statements."

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