Anna Nicole doctors say they wanted to help

Two doctors accused of fueling the drug dependence of the late model-turned-reality-TV star Anna Nicole Smith told a court Wednesday they were only trying to help her, and claimed the media unfairly targeted them.

Former Playboy model Smith died in February 2007 from an accidental prescription overdose in Florida, aged 39, though the doctors are not charged over her death.

Physicians Sandeep Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich prescribed medication for her, in collaboration with her former companion Howard K. Stern, which fueled her addiction, prosecutors have said.

But their attorneys insisted that Kapoor, 42, and Eroshevich, 62, have been singled out unfairly.

Eroshevich's attorney Bradley Brunon said in closing arguments that his client rushed to try help Smith after the death of her 20-year-old son from a drug overdose.

"She's essentially on an emergency mission... Her single, entire purpose was to help this woman," Brunon said, telling the jury witnesses "saw her caring for Anna Nicole Smith."

"And what's her reward? She gets dragged through this... She gets publicly humiliated," Brunon maintained.

And Kapoor attorney Ellyn Garofalo said: "Our laws are designed to stop (prosecutors) and law enforcement from second-guessing physicians. If Anna Nicole Smith was not a celebrity, Dr (Sandeep) Kapoor would not be sitting here."

Kapoor's attorney maintained that her client was acting in "good faith" and had a "legitimate medical purpose" in prescribing medication to Smith.

The larger-than-life Smith, a platinum blonde Texan, was once regarded as one of the world's most desirable women during the 1990s when she replaced supermodel Claudia Schiffer as Guess Jeans model.

However, Smith fell out of the spotlight over the next decade, with dramatic fluctuations in her weight, often appearing to be under the influence of drugs or drink in public.