Rupert Murdoch Gets Engaged At 92, Who Is His Girlfriend Elena Zhukova?
A spokesperson for Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday that the 92-year-old media mogul is engaged to girlfriend Elena Zhukova. This would be the sixth time Rupert has been married. The ceremony, according to the spokesperson, will take place in Moraga, California, at Murdoch’s winery and estate.
The upcoming wedding is the latest chapter in Murdoch’s nearly seven-decade-long reign as chairman of News Corp (NWSA.O) and Fox (FOXA.O), which he left not long ago.
According to the New York Times, who broke the story first, Zhukova is 67 years old and hails from Moscow. It was also mentioned that Murdoch started dating this molecular biologist, who is retired, in the summer. They crossed paths via Wendi Deng, Murdoch’s third wife, as reported in the Daily Mail.
Jerry Hall, an actress and model, was Murdoch’s most recent spouse; they were married for six years until filing for a divorce in 2022. Mick Jagger, lead vocalist of the Rolling Stones, was a longstanding boyfriend of Hall’s.
Who is Elena Zhukova?
Retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova was born in Russia. The two have allegedly been in a relationship since 2023 summer.
In 1991, just before the Soviet Union fell, Elena Zhukova emigrated to the United States, according to The Guardian. She has a stellar reputation as a scientist and has done work at UC Berkeley. She is no stranger to controversy; her ex-husband, the rich businessman Alexander Zhukov, was arrested in Italy in 2001 on charges of smuggling weapons from Ukraine to several Balkan countries.
Since 1993, Alexander Zhukov has been a naturalized citizen of the United Kingdom. In contrast, Elena arrived in America a year ago. Boris and Mikhail are the couple’s sons, and Darya “Dasha” Zhukova is their daughter. Despite the fact that their public lives are mostly unknown. Rupert Murdoch’s sixth fiancée is a 67-year-old molecular scientist.
Rupert Murdoch’s Romantic History
Rupert Murdoch’s first of four marriages was to Patricia Booker, an Australian, in 1956. About ten years passed between the wedding and 1967. He later tied the knot the same year with Anna Maria dePeyste, a former Scottish journalist; the couple remained married for 32 years. The Telegraph reports that the couple is a parent to three.
People said that in 1999, after Rupert’s divorce from Anna, he wed American Wendi Deng, who was born in China, on his yacht in New York Harbour. Their union lasted for 14 years before they divorced. Jerry Hill, a former model and actress, was Rupert’s fourth wife. From 2016 till 2022, they were married.
Ann Lesley Smith, a former dental hygienist, became Rupert Murdoch’s fiancée in 2023. However, speculations indicate that her political leanings were to blame for the engagement’s abrupt end, which occurred within weeks for reasons that remain unclear.
Who is Rupert Murdoch?
An American-born media tycoon named Rupert Murdoch has an empire worth $50 billion that extends all the way to Australia. The 84-year-old heads News Corp, a multinational media conglomerate that owns multiple publications across the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News Channel, and the Sun daily in the United States.
After inheriting News Limited, one of Australia’s most prominent media conglomerates, from his father at the age of 22, Mr. Murdoch, who was born in 1931, got his start in the industry. Mr. Murdoch’s holding firm prior to News Corp’s creation was News Limited. As he continued his rise to the position of media magnate, he established a stronghold in London in the 1960s and then relocated to New York.
Including The Sun and the News of the World—the tabloid at the epicentre of the illicit phone hacking scandal—in his stable of media assets, Mr. Murdoch started consolidating his influence in Britain in the 1980s. He also acquired The Sunday Times and The Times.
In July 2011, his media empire was severely criticized in Britain for allegedly intercepting the voicemails of celebrities and crime victims through phone and computer hacking. Now, he is facing accusations that he also paid police officers to get information that was used in his stories. The media tycoon was attempting to finalize last year’s largest deal in Britain—the acquisition of the successful pay-TV provider BSkyB—when the accusations and inquiries surfaced.
The public was incensed, the murky connections between Britain’s elite were exposed, and Mr. Murdoch’s media empire was rocked by the revelations. James Murdoch, his son, stepped down as chairman of BSkyB last month but is still a board member.
The News of the World admitted to a probe panel that it had accessed the phones of several people, including politicians, celebrities, and the family members of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and British war dead, in order to find more sensational stories to publish on its front page. The tabloid had previously denied that phone hacking was institutionalized at the news organization. The News of the World was shuttered by Mr. Murdoch in July 2011.
Tony Blair was a godfather to one of Mr. Murdoch’s daughters, Gordon Brown was a personal friend of the Australian-born businessman, and David Cameron had a former editor of Murdoch who was involved in the hacking scandal as his personal spokesman. Mr. Murdoch’s influence over British prime ministers goes back decades.
Mr. Murdoch, who is a naturalized US citizen with vast media holdings in Australia as well, has donated to US Democrats and Republicans but is generally identified with the conservative camp.
Family Dynamics in Murdoch’s Retirement
Earlier this year, Murdoch announced his resignation as chief executive officer of News Corp. He will now be serving as an emeritus while his son Lachlan takes on more responsibility in the post. Speculation over Murdoch’s marriage has little chance of altering the course of the corporation, says a New York Times article. He and his four oldest children each own a portion in the company, which is run through a family trust. His second wife, Anna Murdoch Mann, is the mother of his three children; his first wife, Patricia Booker, is the grandmother of one.
Despite recent health issues, the 93-year-old media magnate—who was born in Australia but now calls the United States home—is planning to celebrate his birthday on March 11. their most recent wife, Hall, was on board when a major incident happened in 2018 on their son Lachlan’s superyacht. The seriousness of Murdoch’s health problems was brought to light when, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, he slipped and was left “moaning in agony” on the floor.