Rupert Murdoch to tie the knot for fifth time at the age of 92
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch will tie the knot for the fifth time, at the age of 92, he said Monday in an interview with his own newspaper, the New York Post.
Murdoch is engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former police Chaplain in San Francisco and widow of American country singer and media executive Chester Smith.
“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love but I knew this would be my last. It better be,” he told the tabloid. “I’m happy.”
Murdoch divorced his fourth wife, model Jerry Hall, last year after six years of marriage.
The Australian Murdoch, whose media empire includes The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and other influential outlets, is worth more than $20 billion, according to Forbes. “In perspective, it’s not my first rodeo. Getting near 70 means being in the last half,” said Smith. “I waited for the right time. Friends are happy for me.”
The wedding will take place this summer and the couple plans to split their time between the United States and Britain.
Murdoch, who has six children, was first married to Patricia Booker, an Australian flight attendant, whom he divorced in the late 1960s.
He and his second wife, Anna, a newspaper reporter, were together more than 30 years before divorcing in 1999. His third marriage to Wendi Deng ended in 2013.