FROM THE NEWS DESK: Anna’s Autopsy & Mel’s Outburst (March 23rd)

by McKay Heim and George Larrimore

INQUIRING MINDS: We know what people say about the National Enquirer but what the mag is reporting today, about the death of Anna Nicole Smith, has a ring of truth. Their sources say Anna Nicole suffered from a painful blood infection at the time of her death, caused by the injection of an unknown substance into her system with a dirty needle. Earlier, a doctor who had been treating Smith, Dr. Kristine Eroshevich, said she had prescribed a number of drugs for Smith, including methadone, Dilaudid, Ativan, Dalmane and the British drug Prexige. An expert we talked with today said that combination could be a prescription for disaster. According to Dr. Holly Andersen of NY Presbyterian Hospital, if all of these drugs were mixed in a drug cocktail they would be “absolutely lethal” and that all are “respiratory, cardiac depressants and slow down your breathing and heart rate.” So if taken together “you could easily overdose.” Dr. Eroshevich of Los Angeles claims to have watched over Anna very carefully. She has said, in interviews, that she prescribed those drugs, plus the sedative Chloral Hydrate to Anna Nicole. The Enquirer claims Anna had a fatal level of Chloral Hydrate as well as a lethal blood infection . However, the Enquirer reports that Anna Nicole did not have methadone or any other painkilling drug in her system at the time of death. We have made repeated attempts to contact Dr. Eroshevich but without success.

Monday, the Broward County Medical Examiner, Dr. Joshua Perper, will announce his official findings of the Toxicology and Autopsy reports in a press conference. Will his announcement really answer all of the questions surrounding Anna’s death or just make it more complicated?

ANGER (MIS) MANAGEMENT: Mel Gibson apparently had another meltdown on Thursday night, while trying to talk to a class at Cal State Northridge about his strangely successful movie ‘Apocalyptic.’ He was talking and an Assistant Professor from the school (Alicia Estrada, Central American Studies) gave a from-the-cuff review calling the movie inaccurate and racist. At one point Gibson said “Lady, f**k off.” It got so loud in fact that she and other members of the audience were asked to leave. His people commented calling her rude and disrupting. Today Prof. Estrada told us that the Mayan community deserves an apology from Gibson. Presumably because the movie, which was made in a long-dead Mayan language, contains much graphic violence.

PARTING SHOTS: As the protesters were filing out Gibson was heard to say, “Make your own movie!” Prof. Estrada got her parting shot today. She was whisked away from the campus in a black Town Car, the kind you get picked up in when you’re going to be interviewed by the Big Media

EDWARDS EFFECT?: To the surprise of no one the John Edwards campaign got a lot of sympathetic play out of yesterday’s announcement that Elizabeth Edwards is now being treated for bone cancer. Unlike most people we still read a lot of newspapers and we noticed that their picture made a front page story in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today and a lot more. Meanwhile, the Edwards campaign rolls into Southern California this weekend, but The Media are being kept out on the sidewalks. I guess the gather of campaign funds is not a pretty sight, even if some of the givers are celebs.

YOU CALL THAT MUSIC: Carrie Underwood, former American Idol and now the Hottest New Act in Country Music appears on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. We’re told she is only the 5th country act ever to appear in the 30-plus year history of the NBC franchise.

CRUDE SEGUE: Meanwhile, the News Release of the Day focuses on the Hair Issues of the presidential contenders. According to “Hair Loss Expert” Leo Benjamin. He says “Americans love a President with a full head of hair!” and is offering himself up to do interviews about the Hair Challenges Ahead for Obama, Giuliani, Edwards, Richardson, Romney, McCain, Biden, Clinton. He also warns that some are “beyond restoration help.”

This Anna Nicole Thing is gonna die off sooner or later and we need news… send your tips to [email protected].