Rupert Murdoch Wife: Is Rupert Murdoch Married? – Rupert Murdoch, an Australian-born American business magnate, media proprietor, and investor, has left an indelible mark on the global media landscape through his company News Corp.
This media conglomerate encompasses hundreds of publishing outlets worldwide, including prominent names such as The Sun and The Times in the UK, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, and The Australian in Australia, and The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post in the US.
Additionally, News Corp owns the esteemed book publisher HarperCollins and television broadcasting channels like Sky News Australia and Fox News (through the Fox Corporation). In his illustrious career, Murdoch also owned Sky until 2018, 21st Century Fox until 2019, and the now-defunct News of the World.
Rupert Murdoch Wife: Is Rupert Murdoch Married?
Rupert Murdoch is known to have been married on multiple occasions.
In 1956, Rupert Murdoch tied the knot with Patricia Booker, a former shop assistant and flight attendant from Melbourne. Their union brought forth their only child, Prudence, in 1958. However, the couple’s journey together ended in divorce in 1967.
Following his divorce, in the same year, in fact, Rupert Murdoch married Anna Torv, a Scottish-born cadet journalist working for his Sydney newspaper, The Daily Mirror. It’s noteworthy that in January 1998, a few months prior to announcing his separation from Anna, Murdoch, who was a Roman Catholic, was honored with the title of Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KSG) by Pope John Paul II.
Although he often attended Mass with Torv, he never converted to Catholicism. During their time together, Torv and Murdoch had three children: Elisabeth Murdoch (born in Sydney, Australia on 22 August 1968), Lachlan Murdoch (born in London, UK on 8 September 1971), and James Murdoch (born in London on 13 December 1972). Murdoch’s companies even published two novels penned by his wife: “Family Business” (1988) and “Coming to Terms” (1991). However, their marriage concluded in June 1999, with Anna Murdoch receiving a substantial settlement of US$1.2 billion in assets.
On 25 June 1999, just 17 days after finalizing his second divorce, Rupert Murdoch, then 68 years old, married Wendi Deng, a Chinese-born individual who was 30 at the time and a recent graduate of the Yale School of Management. She had also been appointed as a vice-president of his STAR TV. The couple had two daughters together, Grace (born in 2001) and Chloe (born in 2003). Murdoch, who is a father to a total of six children, eventually became a grandfather to thirteen grandchildren.
Toward the end of his marriage to Wendi, there were rumors, later found to be baseless, about a potential connection with Chinese intelligence, which posed challenges to their relationship. On 13 June 2013, Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng in New York City, citing that the marriage had been irretrievably broken for over six months. The divorce also marked the end of his long-standing friendship with Tony Blair, as Murdoch suspected Blair of having an affair with Deng while they were still married.
On 11 January 2016, Rupert Murdoch made his engagement to former model Jerry Hall public through a notice in The Times newspaper. Their wedding took place on 4 March 2016, with Murdoch at nearly 85 years old and Hall at 59. The ceremony occurred in London, at St Bride’s, Fleet Street, and was followed by a reception at Spencer House.
This marked Murdoch’s fourth marriage. However, it was reported in June 2022 by The New York Times that Murdoch and Hall were set to divorce, citing two anonymous sources. Hall filed for divorce on 1 July 2022, citing irreconcilable differences, and the divorce was finalized in August 2022.
During Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in 2023, Murdoch, who is of Irish descent, proposed to his partner, Ann Lesley Smith. The engaged couple had first crossed paths at an event they both attended in September 2022. However, just two weeks after their engagement in April 2023, Murdoch unexpectedly called off the engagement. The split was attributed to Murdoch’s discomfort with Smith’s religious beliefs and her apparent infatuation with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whom she reportedly referred to as “a messenger from God.” Curiously, Carlson was fired from Fox News three weeks later.
Murdoch’s journey in the media realm began after he assumed control of The News, a small Adelaide newspaper owned by his father, following his father’s passing in 1952. In the subsequent decades, he embarked on a path of expansion, acquiring newspapers in Australia and New Zealand during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1969, Murdoch made a significant move by venturing into the United Kingdom, where he took over the News of the World and, shortly after, The Sun. In 1974, he made another pivotal shift by relocating to New York City, aiming to conquer the US media market. Nevertheless, Murdoch maintained his interests in Australia and the UK. His media empire continued to grow with the acquisition of The Times in 1981, marking his foray into the British broadsheet domain. To facilitate his ownership of a US television network, Murdoch became a naturalized US citizen in 1985, relinquishing his Australian citizenship.
In his quest to embrace emerging electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch streamlined his UK printing operations to London in 1986, which led to contentious labor disputes. His holding company, News Corporation, went on to acquire Twentieth Century Fox in 1985, HarperCollins in 1989, and The Wall Street Journal in 2007. Murdoch’s media footprint extended further as he founded the British broadcaster BSkyB in 1990 and expanded into Asian networks and South American television during the 1990s. By the year 2000, News Corporation, under Murdoch’s leadership, had a presence in over 800 companies across more than 50 countries, amassing a net worth exceeding $5 billion.
In July 2011, Rupert Murdoch found himself at the center of controversy when allegations emerged that his companies, including the News of the World under News Corporation’s ownership, had been engaged in widespread phone hacking of celebrities, members of royalty, and ordinary citizens. This scandal prompted investigations by both British authorities, probing bribery and corruption, and the FBI in the United States. On July 21, 2012, Murdoch resigned from his position as a director of News International.
Throughout his career, many of Murdoch’s newspapers and television channels have faced criticism for their alleged biased and misleading coverage, purportedly in support of his business interests and political allies. Some have attributed his influence to significant political developments in the UK, US, and Australia.
In a surprising development in September 2023, Rupert Murdoch announced his decision to step down as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp., marking the end of an era in his influential media empire.
Source: www.ghgossip.com
