Larry Birkhead — Dannielynn Is Just Like ‘Any Other Kid’

Larry Birkhead’s daughter with the late Anna Nicole Smith – Dannielynn – turned 6 last Friday and she’s a bright and happy little girl.

“People say, ‘Oh, is she a little shy?’ Really, in all honesty, she’s the [most] dramatic toddler I’ve ever seen in my life,” Larry told Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle, who visited the family over the weekend in Kentucky.

“I mean [she] falls down on cue and just starts doing this whole big act and she goes into all these big, dramatic things,” Larry said. “Once she gets to know you, she’s just like any other kid.”

But unlike most children, the journey into her father’s loving arms was anything but normal.

Dannielynn was at the center of a custody battle in her infancy, one which was resolved after a paternity test confirmed Larry was the biological father of the late Anna Nicole’s baby girl.

Living in Kentucky, away from the flashbulbs, Larry explained why he sat down for a brand new interview with Access Hollywood.

“Here’s the thing, I get calls every single day from someone saying, ‘Can we do this interview? Can we do that interview? Can we take pictures?’ And if you don’t let somebody come and see every once in a while how we’re doing and how she’s doing, how she’s growing, then it becomes a chase,” Larry said. “So it’s just like, ‘OK, hey, here she is. She’s doing great. I’m doing great.’ Access has been there since she was a baby and this is all about the people you trust.”

It’s a 10,000-square-foot Louisville mansion that Larry and Dannielynn call home and lining the walls are memories of Anna and her late son Daniel, through pictures and art.

Also living with the family are Dannielynn’s pet hermit crabs and their dog – Pop Tart.

“We’ve been back and forth between California and here for a few years but we spend more of our time here now,” Larry said.

“She likes it here,” Larry said of his daughter. “My family is here.”

While her mother passed away in 2007 when Dannielynn was five-months-old, Larry said his little girl still recognizes her mother.

“She knows her mom’s image and she can recognize it, but I don’t let her see really anything that’s like over the top or anything like that,” Larry said of keeping Anna Nicole’s more provocative images from his daughter’s eyes.

He’s also protecting his daughter with a special place to play in the safety of their own backyard.

“It’s kind of private,” Larry said of the 6-year-old’s sanctuary. “It’s kind of hard to take her places where there are other kids and parents because people like to take pictures and do weird things, so it’s kind of like you have to build your own fortress. That’s why the house is bigger than it should be.”

For more with Larry and Dannielynn, tune into Access Hollywood all this week.