decorated former deputy with the L.A. Sheriff's Dept. who worked as a bodyguard for Larry Birkhead claims that the father of the late Anna Nicole Smith's baby Dannielynn fake-posed at the grave of her son Daniel.

Mark Speer said he was guarding Birkhead in the Bahamas when Birkhead called Splash News, a paparazzi and tabloid news agency.

Speer, 53, told us: "Larry and I went to Nassau for over a week in January of this year. One day he said he wanted to go to Daniel's grave, ostensibly to pay tribute to him on his birthday. But it turned out he had another idea. He said, 'We're going to meet two guys from Splash.'

"They had arranged to wait in some bushes at the cemetery. They took pictures of Larry pretending to be sad and emotional at the grave site. Only the Splash guys weren't quite satisfied, so they asked him to do it again, and for me to get out of the picture. We did three takes. That was the first sign to me that Larry was in it for the money." When police were investigating Daniel's death, Speer says, "I was in the room when he gave the police a statement." He claims that Birkhead alleged to authorities that Smith's attorney Howard K. Stern "was wiring money from Anna's estate to offshore accounts and that he'd forged her signature." Birkhead also claimed he'd "watched Howard giving [Smith] drugs," Speer says.

Speer adds, "I was with Larry when he went to meet Howard at the Horizon mansion [in the Bahamas]. It was a secret meeting, where he got to see Dannielynn. ... I heard Howard tell Larry that he'd give him custody of the baby if he [would allow] Stern to remain as executor of the estate. Larry said, 'I'll think about it.'

"At one point, the baby burped up some fluid on a blanket. Howard said, 'I bet you'd like to have that for DNA.'?" Even more shocking is a trip Speer says he took with Birkhead on a private jet belonging to a wealthy friend of Smith's. The friend's wife "pulled out a stack of photographs," Speer recalls. "They were pictures of Anna and the baby ... in a hospital bed with her son Daniel. Daniel appeared to be dead. [The friend] told me he was dead."

Stern's attorney L. Lin Wood did not answer e-mailed questions by deadline; Birkhead did not return our call.


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Marc Jacobs is so furious over reaction to his stalled Fashion Week show that he may abandon the New York tents for Paris.

"We don't want to show here anymore," the talented designer told Women's Wear Daily's Bridget Foley and Marc Karimzadeh.

Jacobs called rumors that the two-hour delay in getting his clothes onto the runway was due to his hanging out at the Mercer Hotel bar "bull-!"

"I was at the f-ing office until the last fitting was over. I hadn't showered in three days! I slept on the couch in my office for 20 minutes three nights in a row. I got 20 minutes' sleep Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night ... I took 20 minutes to shower and shave - I stank like a raccoon! I could not go to the show like that!" he said. Jacobs particularly needled powerful International Herald Tribune fashion reporter Suzy Menkes, who called his clothes "a freak's costume party." Menkes told WWD: "I would like to murder him with my bare hands."

"I'm very sorry that I inconvenienced anyone by having a show two hours late," Jacobs said. "But we do a huge production show; we try to give fashion and do a major fashion show in New York ... But as far as I'm concerned, we weren't two hours late, we were two weeks early. ... When we complain about the show schedule, our voice is not heard. The [Council of Fashion Designers of America] does me absolutely no service as an American fashion designer."

Jacobs, who is also creative director of Louis Vuitton and is possibly the most popular American designer in Europe, would be welcome in Paris. Except, perhaps, for one resident. That's where Suzy Menkes lives.

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Damon Dash got dissed by Victoria Beckham the other night. Dash was once determined to turn Posh Spice into an American star. But when the hip-hop mogul stopped by her table at an NYC restaurant to chat, she gave him the brushoff. "You could see she didn't want to talk to him," says a spy. "She left shortly after he arrived."


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BIJOU Phillips would love nothing more than for her long-time boyfriend, Danny Masterson, to pop the question. Though reps assure us the two have not yet talked about marriage, Phillips was overheard gushing over her beau of three years backstage at the Jill Stuart fashion show. Our spy said, "She talked about how he doesn't do any drugs and she's only surrounded by people who are good for her when she's with him."


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COLIN Farrell, good Samaritan? The Irish actor - in Toronto promoting "Cassandra's Dream" with costar Ewan McGregor and director Woody Allen - was informed by a hobo begging outside the Hotel Inter-Continental, "It's my 55th birthday tomorrow." Canadian columnist Shinan Govani reports that Farrell promptly loaded the vagrant into his SUV, took him to a "travel outfitters" shop called Europe Bound and bought him a two-person thermal sleeping bag, new clothes and some luggage. Then he gave him a wad of cash, according to Govani.

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THE New York Post is getting into bed with the stars of the "Sex and the City" movie. While Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall have all signed agreements promising they won't leak the plot of the upcoming big-screen ver sion of their smash HBO series, The Post's Dan Kadison was able to pry a tidbit out of Davis at the women's-finals party at Ar thur Ashe Stadium last weekend. "I can't divulge any plot points," teased Davis. "But you know what I can say? There is some thing to do with The Post." We can hardly wait for our close-up!


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Brad Pitt gave to another good cause yesterday - New York retail. Pitt perused watches before picking out a sleek, understated Patek Philippe timepiece, which he wore out of the store. Said the manager: "He is the most polite, well-mannered, unpretentious customer, and we have lots of celebrity clients. He is a gentleman, 'true and true.'"


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Could Britney Spears truly shock the world again -- by appearing on yet another awards show just a week after her infamous Sunday night massacre?

Could be, reports UsMagazine.com, who say that FOX is in talks with Britney's peeps to book the poptastrophe for this Sunday night's Emmy show. Thankfully, she won't be dancing, says a show source: "The idea is to have her come on and apologize for the VMAs. She's weighing the offer."

The Spears camp, meanwhile, "can't say this is 100 percent not true," and suggests that the talks aren't "going through the official channels."

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Vanessa Hudgens canceled her appearance on "The Tonight Show" last night, the same day that more saucy pictures of the "High School Musical" star appeared on the Internet.

Though she doesn't bare all this time, according to the New York Daily News, the alleged snaps show Vanessa in a near-lip-lock with another girl, and apparently massaging a female friend's breast. Oddly enough, Hudgens was also "caught" by paparazzi yesterday coming out of an L.A. church with her family.

Hudgens blamed her no-show at "Tonight" on a "scheduling conflict."


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The author of the OJ Simpson book, "If I Did It," now says he was told it was a confession. FOX News reports that Pablo Fenjves writes in a prologue to the book, being published today, that the original publisher, Regan Books, told him, "He wants to confess, and I'm being assured it's a confession. But this is the only way he'll do it."