Anna Nicole Smith (file photo)
Charges have been filed in California against three men for providing addictive prescription drugs to former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, including the late model's lawyer-boyfriend.

Attorney General Jerry Brown announced Thursday his office has filed 11 felony charges against Howard K. Stern and two doctors, Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich.  Brown's office says the doctor gave thousands of prescription drugs, including opiates and sedatives, to Stern, who in turn gave them to Smith.

Authorities say the drugs were often prescribed for no legitimate medical purpose. The process went on for a period of three years, until Smith's death in February 2007 in Florida at the age of 39.

Her death was ruled an accidental drug overdose. She died shortly after the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, and the birth of her
daughter Danielynn.

The voluptuous Smith gained notoriety after she married oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall in 1994 when she was 26 years old and he was 89. Her legal fight with Marshall's children over the elderly man's estate went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Smith's death also set off a paternity fight over her baby daughter between Howard K. Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead. A DNA test confirmed Birkhead as the father of Smith's child.  

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.