Larry Birkhead Says Dannielynn Birkhead Chopped Hair, Found Her Own Style
larry birkhead said 19-year-old Dannielynn Birkhead used the Barnstable Brown Kentucky Derby Gala on Friday to debut a sharper public image: a layered pixie cut dyed icy platinum with jet black tips. He called the look “coming into her own,” a notable shift for a family that usually stays out of public events.
The change showed up on the eve of the Kentucky Derby, when Birkhead shared photos of her new look on their joint Instagram account. He described it as “a fresh cut and 'goth-rock' style.”
Barnstable Brown Gala Tradition
Friday’s appearance fit into a pattern that has been building for years. Larry Birkhead said he and Dannielynn have attended the Kentucky Derby event every year since she was three years old, and he takes her “every year to honor the past and create new memories.”
That history starts in 2003, when he met Anna Nicole Smith at the Barnstable-Brown Gala while working the event as a photographer. He said he began by taking Dannielynn back, showing her around, and telling her stories about where he met her mother.
From Blonde Hair To Pixie Cut
Dannielynn ditched her shoulder-length blonde hair for the new layered cut, then dyed it icy platinum with jet black tips. She wore Punk Rave’s Gothic Dress in black, matching the hair change with a look Larry Birkhead said she wanted because “she wanted something edgy and cool.”
He said, “She chopped it all off and put some wild colors in it.” He added, “I was kind of bracing myself at the hair salon. I guess she's at the age to do what she wants to do.”
A Rare Public Update
He also said, “People [are] always looking for her to wear something of her mom.” Dannielynn has done that “a couple times,” but he called this year different: “This year is a different style for Dannielynn.”
His fuller view was even more direct: “So we've got this total style change up for her. And this is kind of, I think her coming into her own, doing her own thing and kind of exuding her own style and, and her choices that she made.” For a father who said he really does not let her do many public events, the Derby remains the annual public checkpoint — the place where a private teenager’s choices become visible in one frame.
The gala benefits the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center at the University of Kentucky, but for this family it also functions as a yearly measure of how much Dannielynn has changed since the last time she stood in front of cameras. This year, the change was not a dress or a pose; it was the haircut.
