ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Less than a year after separating from Jerry Hall, the 92-year-old billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch has announced tying the knot with 66-year-old San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith.
Gossip columnist Cindy Adams broke the story in a column for the New York Post, owned by Murdoch. The 92-year-old Murdoch’s expected wife was previously married to Chester Smith, a country-western singer and a radio and TV executive who passed away in 2008.
A spokesperson for Murdoch confirmed the engagement news to Variety.
Murdoch’s fifth marriage
Adams said that the if they tie the knot, it would be Murdoch’s fifth marriage after he divorced Hall, a model and actress, who spent six years of marriage with him.
Murdoch, who owns Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Sky News and various TV and radio stations, was previously married to Wendi Deng (from 1999 to 2013), Anna Maria Torv (from 1967 to 1999), and Patricia Booker (from 1956 to 1967).
Murdoch told Adams he was very nervous and dreaded falling in love, but he knew this would be his last. It better be. He was happy.
The news comes as Murdoch faced a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News by technology company Dominion Voting. The technology company has alleged that Fox News anchor persons made knowingly false claims about Dominion’s influence on the 2020 US election, implying that it rigged the race to favour Democrat Joe Biden.
Murdoch, who owns a net worth of $17 billion, serves as the chairman of Fox Corporation, a publicly traded firm that controls Fox Broadcasting, Fox Business, Fox Sports and Fox News. As the head of News Corporation, Murdoch also owns the New York Post, The Sun and book publisher Harper Collins.
