Billionaire media boss Rupert Murdoch’s 5 marriages – and 1 almost-marriage: from Jerry Hall, who has children with Mick Jagger, to Wendi Deng and the 93-year-old’s new wife, Elena Zhukova
- Before his current marriage, Murdoch was engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a former model and police chaplain – but after that fizzled out, he proposed to Zhukova, a molecular biologist, within the year
- His split from his second wife Anna Murdoch Mann made history as one of the most expensive divorces – reports claim she earned a staggering US$1.7 billion in their divorce settlement
Murdoch, 93, had announced his engagement to the 67-year-old retired molecular biologist in March – less than a year after he called off his last engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, a former model and police chaplain.
In all, the founder of News Corp and Fox News has been married five times. His love life, including high-profile marriages to entrepreneur Wendi Deng and model Jerry Hall, has often made headlines throughout his career. His split from his second wife, Anna, has been cited as one of the most expensive divorces in history, with reports claiming she earned a staggering US$1.7 billion in their settlement, though that figure has been called in to question, per The Guardian.
In 2024, Murdoch and his family are worth almost US$20 billion, according to Forbes.
Here’s a timeline of his marriages – and almost marriages.
1. Patricia Booker
Murdoch married his first wife, Patricia Booker, a former department store model and flight attendant, when he was 25 years old in 1956. He married her against the wishes of his mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, who reportedly regarded Booker as “less than” who she expected her son to marry, Vanity Fair reported.
The pair had a daughter together, Prudence, now 66, who sits on the board of Times Newspapers, a subsidiary of News Corp, London’s Evening Standard reported.
Murdoch and Booker were married for 11 years before divorcing in 1967.