Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 93, marries for the fifth time
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Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has married for the fifth time at age 93, tying the knot with retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has married for the fifth time at age 93, tying the knot with a retired molecular biologist a quarter-century younger than him.
Mr Murdoch and Ms Elena Zhukova, 67, were wedded on June 1 at the media mogul’s California vineyard and estate, called Moraga.
Photographs published in The Sun, the British tabloid owned by Mr Murdoch, show the couple posing and smiling – he in a black suit and yellow tie and she in an off-the-shoulder white gown as she clutched a bouquet of lilies of the valley.
Jet-set guests at the nuptials included Mr Robert Kraft, 82, owner of the New England Patriots US football team, and his 50-year-old wife Dana Blumberg, news reports said.
Mr Murdoch had previously been married four times, most recently to American model Jerry Hall, the long-time partner of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.
His roller-coaster personal life is often fodder for the tabloid newspaper industry that he helped foster on three continents.
In 2023, Mr Murdoch announced his engagement to American dental hygienist-turned-conservative radio host Ann Lesley Smith, but called off the planned nuptials less than a month later.
Ms Zhukova emigrated to the United States from Russia. Her daughter, Ms Dasha Zhukova, an arts patron and entrepreneur, was formerly married to the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
Mr Murdoch, who has six children, was first married to Ms Patricia Booker, an Australian flight attendant, whom he divorced in the late 1960s.
He and his second wife, Ms Anna Torv, a Scottish newspaper reporter, were together more than 30 years before divorcing in 1999. His third marriage to American entrepreneur Wendi Deng ended in 2013.
The Australia-born Murdoch, whose media empire includes The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and other influential outlets, and his family have a net worth of about US$20 billion (S$27 billion), according to Forbes.
Mr Murdoch handed over control of his global media empire to son Lachlan in November 2023, shifting to an emeritus status. AFP
