Rupert Murdoch is engaged again
Media mogul and former Fox and News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch is engaged for the sixth time.
Murdoch’s office told the New York Times he planned to marry his girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, 67, a retired molecular biologist whom he started dating last year. He turns 93 on Monday. It would be Murdoch’s fifth marriage.
The pair started dating last year. Credit: Instagram
The wedding will be held in California, at Murdoch’s vineyard and estate, Moraga, the spokesman said. Invitations have already been sent out.
Married four times already, Murdoch called off his wedding to Ann Lesley Smith in August last year.
Zhukova was introduced to Murdoch by another former wife of his, Wendi Deng. Zhukova is a retired molecular biologist, having left her native Moscow in 1991, and later working at the University of California. She was previously married to billionaire Alexander Zhukov. This will be her third marriage.
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Zhukova’s daughter, Darya Zhukova, was married to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the former owner of English Premier League team Chelsea FC, until 2018. She has since married Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos, who previously dated Paris Hilton and Mary-Kate Olsen.
Murdoch handed over the reins of his media empire to his eldest son Lachlan late last year, in turn becoming chairman emeritus at his media conglomerates.
He called off his marriage to Smith in April after reportedly becoming concerned about the radio host’s ultra-conservative and evangelist views. This was just weeks after their engagement was announced in one of his tabloids, The New York Post.
His fourth marriage to model Jerry Hall ended in 2022 after six years. He has six children.
The marriage is unlikely to impact the future holdings of both media empires, which are controlled through a family trust. There are eight votes. Upon his death, all votes would be transferred to his four eldest children, Prudence, Lachlan, James and Elizabeth.
He married his first wife, flight attendant Patricia Booker, in 1956, with whom he had his eldest child, Prudence. In 1967, he married Daily Mirror reporter Anna Torv, mother to Lachlan, James and Elizabeth. Their marriage was Murdoch’s longest before the pair split in 1998 and later divorced in 1999.
Less than three weeks after the divorce, Murdoch married 29-year-old Wendi Deng, with whom he had Chloe and Grace. The pair split in 2013. Murdoch later married former supermodel Jerry Hall in 2016 in London, a week before his 85th birthday.
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Murdoch is due to visit Australia for the first time since 2018 in July, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his News Corp masthead The Australian. He was due to return in February alongside the entire News Corp board; however, the trip was postponed due to scheduling clashes.
He has faced health issues across the past decade. According to a book by American author Michael Wolff, he could not attend his sister Anna Kantor’s funeral in Australia in 2022 due to a health problem.
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