Originally appeared on E! Online
Dannielynn Birkhead channeled her late mom Anna Nicole Smith with a vintage look during 2025 Kentucky Derby weekend.
The 18-year-old attended the Barnstable Brown Gala wearing the same backless black gown her late mom wore to the event 21 years prior. Birkhead also sported a loose updo like her mother did.
The teen was accompanied by her dad Larry Birkhead, Anna Nicole’s ex, continuing an annual tradition the two began 15 years ago.
“Kicking off @kentuckyderby weekend with Dannielynn,” the 52-year-old wrote on his Instagram May 2. “First up, the Barnstable-Brown Gala. Dannielynn is wearing Anna Nicole’s dress that she wore 21 years ago to this same event. Life full circle. She said she chose the dress because it was her Mom’s and ‘super cool.’ Next up the Kentucky Derby races.”
The father-daughter duo was also accompanied by Larry Birkhead’s niece Chloe. He added in his post, “I am going to try not an embarrass them with my dance moves.”
READ Why Larry Birkhead Gave Daughter Dannielynn a Life-Size Cutout of Hugh Jackman for Christmas
And it’s just one of many the tight-knit pair share.
In September, Birkhead wished his daughter a happy 18th birthday with a sweet message on Instagram. “You are my entire heart,” he captioned the post after their “Beetlejuice”-themed celebration. “I love you more than I can ever express. May you continue on your journey being ‘humble and kind’ and spread the love that you were given to many others. I am beyond proud of you.”
“We talk about her a lot at home, and share stories and funny things,” Dannielynn Birkhead told E! News on the derby red carpet in 2024. “And we have some things around the house that belong to her, like a painting with some very choice words on the back.”
While the father-daughter duo has been attending the special event together for 15 years, their joint attendance was actually a last-minute choice back in 2010.
“I think the one year the babysitter canceled,” he explained. “And then it became I brought her when she was able to kind of walk and do her own thing down the carpet, and then it became a tradition.”
