Prince Frederic von Anhalt has sued Fox and Bill O’Reilly after the talk-show host called him a fraud for claiming he could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby.
Von Anhalt, who is married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, filed the defamation lawsuit seeking at least $10 million in damages Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The claim stems from comments the talk-show host made during a Feb. 22 segment of “The O’Reilly Factor.”
“Look, this guy’s a fraud,” O’Reilly said, according to a transcript of the show posted on the network’s Web site. “We know he’s a fraud. But let’s — what I want to talk about is — he’s done. His credibility is — is finished.”
Since the show aired, von Anhalt said people give him dirty looks when he goes to the grocery store.
“They say, ‘Look, here comes the fraud,’ ” he said. “I get lots of e-mails from people bad-mouthing me. It’s very embarrassing.”
Last month, von Anhalt filed legal documents seeking a DNA test to determine if he is the father of Smith’s baby girl, Dannielynn. He has said he carried on a decade-long affair with the Playboy centerfold.
Two other men also claim to be the father: Smith’s former boyfriend Larry Birkhead and her most recent companion, Howard K. Stern, whose name appears on the baby’s birth certificate.