Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer-manager Howard Stern was also her best friend and lover and would never have been part of an alleged plot to furnish her with harmful drugs, a defence lawyer said today.

Larry Birkhead, who gained fame in a custody battle over Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, testified today that he regularly saw the ex-model take prescription drugs, including methadone.

Defence lawyers in the drug case surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith have been notified that prosecutors will file an amended complaint at a discovery hearing today.

Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer-turned-boyfriend and two doctors denied have conspiring to provide thousands of prescription pills to the former model before her overdose death two years ago.

Raids have been carried out on the US homes and offices of the doctors who prescribed drugs to former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, who died of an overdose.