Usually, Rupert Murdoch — the Fox Corporation chairman — helps to convey the news to his audience of millions. Now, Murdoch has become the subject of the headlines.
Murdoch, 92, is getting married to Ann Lesley Smith, according to Murdoch’s short interview with one of his newspapers.
This will be Murdoch’s fifth marriage.
He presented a ring to Smith on St. Patrick’s Day, according to his paper the New York Post.
“I’m one-fourth Irish,” Murdoch, an Australia native, told the outlet. “I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love — but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy.”
Smith, 66, remains best known for her past career as a police chaplain in San Francisco. Previously, she was married to singer-turned-executive Chester Smith.
“I’m a widow 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman,” Smith said, referring to her late husband. “Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same belief.”
Speaking to the NY Post, they both expressed optimism about marrying later in life.
“Getting near 70 means being in the last half. I waited for the right time. Friends are happy for me,” Smith told the paper. “In perspective, it’s not my first rodeo.”
Murdoch added, “We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together.”
Last year, Murdoch agreed to the term of his divorce from fourth wife Jerry Hall.
Hall, a model-actor, initiated the divorce. Judith L. Poller, Hall’s attorney, said in an email to the Associated Press, “They remain good friends and wish each other the best for the future.”
Details remain murky. Hall had sought an unspecified amount of spousal support in her original petition and cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. She and Murdoch have no children together.
Hall, 66, and Murdoch, 91, married in London in 2016. It was the fourth marriage for Murdoch. Hall was previously the longtime partner of Mick Jagger, the father of four children with her.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to ths article.