Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, at the age of 92, is set to tie the knot with his girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, a 67-year-old Russian molecular biologist. The couple’s wedding is scheduled for July at Mr. Murdoch’s picturesque California wine estate.
Interestingly, their paths crossed during a family gathering organized by one of Mr. Murdoch’s ex-wives.
This marks Mr. Murdoch’s sixth engagement and fifth wedding. Since 1956, the former chairman of Fox and News Corps has married four women and welcomed six children from these marriages.
Additionally, the media baron had a brief engagement with US model and radio host Ann Lesley Smith, who was 25 years his junior.
In the 1950s, Mr. Murdoch crossed paths with Australian model and flight attendant Patricia Booker. Their love story culminated in a wedding in 1956, when he was a young 25-year-old. The union bore fruit in the form of a daughter named Prudence.
However, after 11 years of marriage, the couple decided to part ways in 1967. Following their divorce, Patricia Booker remarried, and her life remained relatively private until her passing in 1998.
Journalist Anna Maria, just months after Mr. Murdoch divorced his first spouse Patricia Booker, became his second wife. The couple remained married for an impressive 32 years until their divorce in 1999, making it the media mogul’s longest marriage.
In earlier times, Ms. Maria characterized her ex-husband as “extremely hard, ruthless, and determined.” She also expressed that “the Rupert Murdoch I once loved passed away long ago.” The couple shares three children: 56-year-old Elisabeth, 53-year-old Lachlan, and 52-year-old James.
While Lachlan assumed the role of chairman at Fox Corp and News Corp last year, all three have actively participated in the family business.
Rupert Murdoch wasted no time after finalizing his divorce from his second wife. Just two weeks later, he married the 30-year-old Chinese national, Wendi Deng, in a clandestine ceremony aboard his yacht in New York.
Ms. Deng is a multifaceted individual—an entrepreneur, movie producer, and collector of Chinese contemporary art. She and Mr. Murdoch share two daughters: 23-year-old Grace and 21-year-old Chloe.
In 2016, Mr. Murdoch was introduced to his fourth wife, Jerry Hall, a US model and actress, by one of his sisters. Following their marriage, Mr. Murdoch expressed feeling “like the luckiest and happiest man in the world” in a tweet.
Before meeting him, Jerry Hall had a relationship with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, with whom she shares four children. Her previous marriage to Mr. Hall lasted for six years before they divorced in 2022.
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