EXCLUSIVE: 'She greeted me wearing a tight gray T-shirt with two red cherries on the front. I told her I'd like to pick her cherries.' Anna Nicole Smith's trainer/lover breaks silence on 10th anniversary of her death

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Every time Anna Nicole Smith's former lover Alexander Denk sees a photograph of her angelic daughter Dannielynn, he does a double take.

The 10-year-old child model looks so much like her late mother that it takes Denk's breath away.

'When I see pictures of Dannielynn I get emotional,' he told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview to mark the 10th anniversary of Smith's death.

'She looks like her mom so much, especially when you see photographs of Anna at the same age.'

After Smith's death on February 8, 2007 of a prescription drug overdose, Denk believed there was a '50-50 chance' he was the father of then five-month-old Dannielynn.

At least three other men claimed paternity of the tragic tot, who was then expected to inherit $80 million from the estate of Smith's late husband J Howard Marshall. It was even suggested that Smith had used the oil tycoon's frozen sperm to get pregnant.

Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith dated fitness trainer Alexander Denk from 2002 until right before she died in 2007. Now, on the 10th anniversary of her death, he tells DailyMail.com about his love life with the starlet 

After Smith's death on February 8, 2007 of a prescription drug overdose, Denk believed there was a '50-50 chance' he was the father of five-month-old Dannielynn

Denk, a fitness instructor and personal chef, dated Smith from 2002 until shortly before her death. They met when he was invited to audition for her reality TV series, The Anna Nicole Show

But ultimately, DNA tests proved that photographer Larry Birkhead was the child's father.

Denk, 49, has never met Dannielynn, who lives with Birkhead in rural Kentucky, but follows her progress in the media and intends to meet up with her when she is older.

'I have emails, photographs and memoirs to share with her when she is grown up,' he said. 'I will see her and talk to her privately.

Denk, a fitness instructor and personal chef, dated Smith from 2002 until shortly before her death. They met when he was invited to audition for her reality TV series, The Anna Nicole Show.

'I knew Anna for five-and-a-half years, initially professionally, then romantically. I probably knew her better than anyone.'

Denk said he gets upset when people only talk of Smith's scandalous love life, her yo-yo diets, pill-popping and drinking.

'She is so misunderstood. Nobody ever talks about the good things Anna Nicole did.

'Everyone talks about the drugs, not the work she did for the Make A Wish Foundation or homeless kids. She was so giving. She was big into animal rights because she loved her dogs.

'Anna Nicole always told me she would not live long. She was very intuitive, believe it or not. I promised her I would tell people who she really was.

'She was a simple Texas girl who just wanted to be loved. She had a good head on her shoulders but people ripped her off.'

Even though Denk is not the father of Dannielynn, now 10, she looks so much like her late mother that it makes him 'emotional' every time he sees photos of her

The Austrian-born aspiring actor and stuntman, who appeared in 'Batman,' 'Batman Forever' and 'Collatoral Damage,' said he hit it off with Smith immediately

The cuddling couple met in 2003 when Denk was hired to be on Anna's show. She said she chose me because I was funny,' Denk recalls

Denk, an Austrian-born aspiring actor and stuntman, who appeared in 'Batman,' 'Batman Forever' and 'Collatoral Damage,' hit it off with Smith immediately.

'My agent told me she was looking for a personal chef to appear on her reality TV show and he asked me to audition,' he said.

'There were three chefs and myself. We all had coffee while she was sleeping and then everyone got cooking.

'The others did sushi, soufflé and mousse, that sort of stuff.

'She is a Texas girl and she looked like she'd enjoy hearty, home cooked meals. I cooked apple strudel, Austrian food.

'While we were cooking she came downstairs, I was like, 'My God, how beautiful is she?'

Smith, who weighed 225 lbs and was struggling to diet, instantly fell for his Austrian delicacies and his sense of humor.

'She said she chose me because I was funny,' Denk recalled. 

And he admited the sexual attraction between them was instant – something that became very obvious when he made his first appearance on her TV show and made a risqué comment about her clothes.

'I was filmed going to her house, she opened the door wearing a beautiful tight gray t-shirt with two red cherries on the front and sweat pants.

'I was like, 'Wow. I'd like to pick your cherries.' She cracked up laughing.

Denk put a new gym into Anna's home and got her back in shape. 'She worked really hard and never complained

'She was a big girl, 5 ft 11 ins tall and heavy. It took a long time but she lost 105 lbs with my help,' Denk said

'We started to cook together, I showed her how to do pancakes. We had a lot of fun on the show.

'Then she told me she wanted to lose 100 lbs and I was sure I could help, so I became her chef and fitness trainer. We worked out together five or six days a week. I built a gym for her in her basement of her Beverly Hills house.

'She worked really hard and never complained. She was a big girl, 5 ft 11 ins tall and heavy. It took a long time but she lost 105 lbs with my help.

'As her chef, I taught her how to make nutritional food and as her trainer we worked out together. At that time I charged her $195 an hour for my work. After a few months she invited me to stay with her at a luxury hotel in Newport Beach, California.

'She said she just wanted to get away from everybody, it was to be just me and her. I was her chef and trainer, now she wanted me to be her bodyguard as well.'

Even though Smith had agreed to pay Denk for his security services, it was clear to both of them that the relationship would take a turn for the intimate.

'We checked in under different names and slept in the same room,' he said coyly.

'She was saying she didn't want to go to sleep alone, she said she was afraid she was going to be killed.

'It was over the old man she'd married and she feared people were out to get her.'

Smith was a dancer at a Houston, Texas, strip club when she met Marshall. She was 26 and he was 89 when they tied the knot in 1989. He died 13 months later and she immediately demanded $1.6 billion, saying he had verbally promised her half of his vast estate if she married him.

Denk says he gets upset when people only talk of Anna's scandalous love life, yo-yo diets, pill-popping and drinking 'She is so misunderstood. Nobody ever talks about the good things Anna Nicole did,' he said

Anna, who weighed 225 lbs at the time and was struggling to diet, instantly fell for his Austrian delicacies and his sense of humor 

Denk said Smith was 'misunderstood' by many people. 'Nobody ever talks about the good things Anna Nicole did. Everyone talks about the drugs, not the work she did for the Make A Wish Foundation or homeless kids. She was so giving,' he said.

Though Denk believed there was a '50/50 chance' Smith's baby, Dannielynn, was his, DNA tests proved photographer Larry Birkhead (pictured) was the father and he was awarded custody

The legal tussle between Smith and Marshall's heirs continued after her death and were finally settled in the family's favor in 2014.

But at the time the battle loomed large in Smith's life and she fretted about money constantly.

'She had a big heart but she was always getting ripped off,' Denk said. 'She did a drinks commercial and they never paid.

'Anna was so worried that first night in Newport Beach but I kept re-assuring her that I would help with whatever she needed.

'Finally she fell asleep for hours and I lay beside her, watching her sleeping.

'Then we had a massage together, then went downstairs. There was a big convention at the hotel and people swarmed all over her. She was great, very open to talking to strangers and she loved her fans.'

From that night, their relationship turned sexual and Denk says if they'd been apart for a while, Smith would call him in the early hours with bizarre requests.

'She'd call me and ask me to come over and change the locks because she was concerned for her safety.

'Sometimes she'd just call me at 2am to talk about her idol, Marilyn Monroe.

'Other times she called worrying about money. Everyone had their hands out, wanting a piece of her.

'She was estranged from her mother and I remember her being insistent that she didn't get a cent. I helped her save money because everyone was trying to rip her off. I made sure I stopped people ripping her off,' he said.

Denk, who has produced movies, works tirelessly for the Special Olympics and is a volunteer Los Angeles police officer, admits he still feels protective of Smith over claims of her drunken pill popping.

'She would have a margarita here or there,' he said. 'I'd have to tell her to go to bed, to be happy and healthy. But most of the time she was fine.

The legal battle over money between Smith and the family of her late ex-husband, J Howard Marshall, loomed large in her life, and Denk said she believed people were 'out to get her. Above Anna with her controversial lawyer Howard Stern'

In this photo poses with Larry Birkhead, second from left, Howard K. Stern, right, son Daniel Smith, third from right, at the Playboy Mansion in 2004

'Once she had to go to an awards show. She called and said she was too nervous to go out on the stage. She asked if she would be okay if she had a little shot of whisky.

'She took a little nip to relax her and she went up on stage and sounded slurred. Everyone said she was on drugs.

'She used whisky to relax and because she spoke slowly she was accused of doing drugs, being drunk. She was so misunderstood.'

Denk said Smith would get upset about what people were saying about her and needed constant reassurance.

'She was so beautiful inside and out,' he said.

But he admitted he knew they would never enjoy a regular romance – even though Smith constantly begged him to marry her and have children.

'Anna wanted to get married and have kids with me. She'd say: 'Let's rent a place and have babies.' She kept asking me to give her a kid.

'It was a nice relationship but I couldn't settle down with her, she was a celebrity. I was like, 'If I want to be a father, I want to be there to raise the kid.'

'I had just got divorced and I didn't want to settle down and I knew she was seeing other people.'

The first inkling that Smith, who had a son Daniel from her first marriage to teenage sweetheart Billy Wayne Smith, was pregnant came during a particularly intimate moment.

'She called me over. She lifted her top, she was four to five months pregnant. She was so happy and let me kiss her belly,' Denk said.

Astonishingly, she also confided that photographer Birkhead was probably the father but hinted that Denk and others were also in the picture. Afterwards, they laid on Smith's bed and chose baby names.

'Anna and I picked names out. I was for Daniella or Alexa – after me. She came up with Dannielynn. We didn't speak about what she was going to do or who she would name as the father. It was a sticky situation.'

Five months later she was discovered unresponsive in her sixth floor room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Pictured, Smith with Daniel

'People say I should write a book but I won't do that. There are photographs, emails and memories that I want to share only with Danielynn,' Denk said. Pictured, Dannielynn with her father, Birkhead

With Birkhead demanding a paternity test, Smith decamped to the Bahamas with Howard K Stern, her long-time lawyer and secret lover.

But tragedy struck just three days after Dannielynn was born. Smith's 20-year-old son died of a drug overdose as he visited his mother and new half-sister in the hospital.

Two weeks later, Smith and Stern exchanged wedding bands in a 'commitment ceremony' aboard a yacht as she struggled to cope with her son's death.

Five months later she was discovered unresponsive in her sixth floor room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

The medical examiner ruled her death an accidental overdose of prescription pills.

'After her death, five people came out and said they could be the father. I was a possibility. I thought maybe 50-50 that I could be the father,' Denk said.

Among those claiming paternity was Hollywood icon Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband Frederic Prinz Von Anhalt, who claimed he'd had a decade-long affair with Smith. Ex boyfriend Mark Hatton, who Smith accused of stalking her, also claimed he was a contender.

And Smith's half-sister Donna Hogan alleged that the former Playboy model had used her late husband Marshall's frozen sperm to get pregnant.

Stern, Birkhead and Smith's mother Virgie Arthur all tried to claim custody of Dannielynn before DNA tests proved Birkhead was the father and he was awarded custody.

Denk says it was 'embarrassing' to be named as the potential father as others appeared to be interested solely in Dannielynn's expected $80 million inheritance.

He is still in touch with Stern, who he praises for valiantly fighting on behalf of Dannielynn's inheritance, but has nothing to do with her real father, Birkhead.

However, he watches Danileynn's progress from afar and plans to tell her everything he knows about Smith when she's older.

'People say I should write a book but I won't do that. There are photographs, emails and memories that I want to share only with Danielynn,' he said.