Billionaire Rupert Murdoch (91) and actress Jerry Hall (65) are filing a divorce after six years of marriage. Rupert tied the knot with Jerry in a low-key ceremony at Spencer House in central London in March 2016.
Media sources reported that people close to Rupert were “surprised” to hear about the end of their marriage. Before the wedding, a friend of the couple had told media sources, “They are very sweet together, in a little couple bubble. They act like a married couple already, talking over each other, holding hands. She puts her feet up on his legs, they disagree on things like any married couple. She hates Trump, he understands Trump, it’s been like that from the beginning. (sic).”
The two also created a buzz last year when they had extravagant festivities surrounding Rupert’s 90th birthday celebration at Tavern on the Green in New York City.
Murdoch was previously married to entrepreneur Wendi Deng (third marriage), whom he divorced in 2014 after 14 years of marriage. They have two daughters, Grace and Chloe.
Meanwhile, his second wife was Anna Murdoch Mann, a Scottish journalist with whom he had three children between 1967 and 1999.
Rupert and his first wife, Patricia Booker — a former flight attendant with whom he had a daughter — divorced in 1966.
This is Rupert’s fourth divorce and reportedly is unlikely to alter the ownership structure of the business he holds stakes in, which includes Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News Channel, and News Corp, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal. He controls News Corp and Fox Corp through Reno, Nevada-based family trust that roughly holds a 40 percent stake in the voting shares of each company.
With a worth estimated at $17.7 billion, Rupert built a sprawling media empire with assets around the globe. He reportedly sold the Fox film and television studios and other entertainment assets to Walt Disney Co. in a $71.3 billion deal that closed in March 2019.