Rupert Murdoch engaged to be married for fifth time

Rupert Murdoch, 92, is engaged to be married for the fifth time, his New York Post tabloid reported on Monday, just eight months after he divorced former model Jerry Hall.

Murdoch, co-chair of the Fox Corporation and executive chair of News Corp, told the Post his planned marriage to Ann Lesley Smith, the 66-year-old widow of a former radio and TV executive, would “be my last”, adding: “It better be.”

The union will not affect the ownership of the Murdoch family trust, which controls News Corp and Fox with a 40 per cent stake in voting shares of each company, said a person familiar with the matter.

News of the engagement comes as Murdoch and his Fox News network are facing a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion, a voting machine maker, over Fox’s coverage of the 2020 election. Dominion alleges Fox amplified former US president Donald Trump’s false claims that the vote was rigged. A trial is expected to begin in Delaware next month.

Court documents from the lawsuit have revealed Murdoch privately expressed concerns about Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Correspondence shows the Fox co-chair called Trump’s allegations “damaging” and “crazy”, even as his network continued to air the claims made by the former president and his allies. Murdoch also raised worries about Fox’s declining ratings amid the controversy.

Smith, a former police chaplain in San Francisco, was married to Chester Smith, a country singer who was a founder of Spanish-language TV network Univision. Murdoch met her in September at his Moraga vineyard in Bel Air, California, the media mogul told the Post. She has no children.

“I’m a widow 14 years,” she told the tabloid. “Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman . . . So I speak Rupert’s language.”

In January, Murdoch scrapped a plan to recombine Fox and News Corp, which had prompted renewed interest in the structure of the family trust, after resistance from shareholders. Murdoch has six children from his first three marriages. His son Lachlan serves as chief executive of Fox and executive co-chair of News Corp.