Tycoon Rupert Murdoch, 93, is getting married for the fifth time: his wedding among vineyards with a 67-year-old biologist

The millionaire businessman who owns Fox, The Wall Street Journal and The Sun, Rupert Murdoch, has married for the fifth time at the age of 93. His new wife is retired biologist Elena Zhukova, 67. This was confirmed this Sunday by News Corporation, which broadcast the photograph.

The ceremony took place on Saturday, June 1, at Murdoch’s own vineyards in the Bel Air neighborhood of Santa Monica, California. The bride, with a minimalist white design with a bateau neckline and French sleeves signed by Emilia Wickstead, posed with her boyfriend in the gardens. She carried a wild-style bridal bouquet. Among the guests was the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, publishes Daily Mail. Three months ago, the couple, already engaged, announced that their wedding would take place shortly. It was The New York Times that published it.

Before saying I do with Elena, Murdoch became engaged to journalist Ann Lesley Smith, 66, widow of country singer Chester Smith. But the relationship was cut short. Between 2016 and 2022 he was married to model Jerry Hall, ex-wife of Mick Jagger. His third wife, Wendi Deng, was the one who introduced him to his new wife, the retired molecular biologist. He married her just two weeks after signing her divorce from Anna Maria Torv. His marriage to Anna Maria lasted 32 years. The first time the Australian millionaire walked down the aisle was in 1958 with Patricia Boocker. They were together until 1967.

‘Succession’ y Murdoch

Father of seven children, Murdoch has been honorary president of News Corporation since his son Lachlan replaced him in his position last November.. His figure inspired the series Succession (HBO Max) and screenwriter Jesse Armstrong to create the brilliant fiction that recreates the Roys’ family and business fights, with patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) at the helm.

Murdoch, as Logan Roy in Succession, He created a media conglomerate that he began to build in the middle of the last century, when his father died and began to expand by purchasing numerous regional newspapers in Australia and New Zealand. A reference for sensationalist journalism, it was also made with the tabloids News of the World -closed after a scandal related to illegal wiretapping- and The Sun in the United Kingdom, the greatest exponents of sensationalism as a creator of large audiences, although he later bought the prestigious The Times. In the USA it acquired New York Post y The Wall Street Journal.

On television, he launched Fox News, the scourge of Obama and the entire Democratic Party as a ‘counterweight’ to CNN. The conservative network became Trump’s reference medium and even covered the former president’s accusations of electoral fraud after Biden’s victory. That cost him a lawsuit from the company in charge of the count and the chain had to pay 717 million euros to avoid going to trial.

The fall of his empire, in ‘The Fall: the end of Fox News’

Michael Wolff tells in The Fall the collapse of the giant Fox, the country’s polarizing TV network. Also in that descent is the Murdoch dynasty. His fortune has been estimated at 17 billion dollars (more than 15 billion euros), which has placed him in 76th place on the Forbes list. Rupert Murdoch has seven children. To wit: Prudence, daughter of his first wife, Patricia Booker; Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, the result of his relationship with Anna Maria Torv; and Grace and Chloe, by Wendi Deng.

The author enters like an elephant in a china shop and turns the Murdoch universe and all its satellite actors orbiting Fox upside down. The chain that Rupert founded in 1996 served as a take-off runway for Trump’s political career. Before, and over 30 years, Fox News has helped alter the American scene. The author points out that this is how Fox is going, this is how the country is going: divided, polarized and flooded with fake news. Following this argument, Wolff maintains that the chain is falling apart. And the family dynasty behind it, too.

In 2016, the dismissal for sexual harassment of the all-powerful Roger Ailes on Fox gave way to a directionless era in which Trump took advantage of the network. Running at ease, the Republican arrived at the White House, despite the fact that the magnate gave him niceties like calling him “f… idiot.” The turning point took place in 2020, when the then president lost the elections and dedicated himself to spreading false conspiracy theories and rigged voting.