Billionaire Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch Confirms Fifth Marriage at 92, Believes It Will Be His ‘Last’
Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced his fifth marriage at the age of 92 on Monday, eight months after he reached a divorce settlement with model and actor Jerry Hall, according to reports.
Announcing his engagement with Ann Lesley Smith, 66, whose late husband was Chester Smith, a country singer as well as radio and TV executive, Murdoch told New York Post: “I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love — but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy.”
The couple plans to get married in the summer. “We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together,” Murdoch said.
Murdoch’s business empire includes Fox News in the US and the tabloid newspaper the Sun in the United Kingdom.
Murdoch has six children from his first three marriages. Prudence MacLeod, with his first wife Patricia Booker, then Elisabeth and sons Lachlan and James with his second wife Anna Mann. He has two more daughters, Grace and Chloe, with his third wife Wendi Deng. Murdoch’s fourth wife was the former supermodel Jerry Hall, from whom he split last year.
Hall and Murdoch married in London in 2016. Hall had sought an unspecified amount of spousal support in her original petition, and cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. She and Murdoch have no children together.
Speaking about marriage with the media tycoon, Smith told New York Post: “I’m a widow 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman. Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same beliefs.”
“For us both it’s a gift from God. We met last September,” she added.
Murdoch met Smith at Moraga, California during a gathering of 200 people at his vineyard, and they conversed briefly. He called her two weeks later.
Legal Trouble
The Dominion Voting Systems has filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Murdoch’s Fox News, alleging that the news outlet repeatedly aired false allegations and that its hosts and commentators endorsed a fake narrative that the 2020 election was stolen – a claim that ultimately doomed former president Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
When questioned under oath, Murdoch agreed the 2020 presidential election was free and fair: “The election was not stolen,” he said. Murdoch also said he was aware some Fox commentators, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity, at times, endorsed false claims, but he did nothing to stop them.
