Anna Nicole lawyer sues author over gay sex claims

Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer and companion Howard Stern has filed a £30m (€43m) libel action against author Rita Cosby and her publisher over a book that claims Stern and Smith’s ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, had a sexual encounter.

The writ, filed in federal court in New York, seeks £5m (€7.2m) in compensatory damages and £25m (€36m) in punitive damages from Cosby – who wrote Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith’s Death – and Hachette Book Group USA.