Media baron Rupert Murdoch is rumoured to be dating again, months after he ended his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former police chaplain. This time, he has entered a relationship with Elena Zhukova, a retired scientist, Daily Mail reported.
Murdoch, 92, was reportedly seen boarding a rented superyacht, named “Christina O”, with Zhukova, 66, in the Mediterranean last weekend. The luxury boat is reported to have been recorded in the coast of Corfu in Greece.
The billionaire met Zhukova through his third wife, Wendi Deng, according to the report. Zhukova’s daughter, who was married to Russian oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, is a friend of Murdoch’s third wife.
Rupert Murdoch, who has been married four times, ended his last marriage by divorcing Jerry Hall in August last year. Earlier this year, he called off his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith two weeks after announcing it. He had proposed to Smith with an 11-carat diamond ring worth more than $2.5 million, Daily Mail had earlier reported.
Before calling off the engagement, he had said he is ready to getting for the fifth time. He had told the New York Post, one of his own publications: "I dreaded falling in love - but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I'm happy.”
He was reportedly uncomfortable with Smith’s unabashed evangelist views.
Murdoch was previously married to Australian flight attendant Patricia Booker, Scottish-born journalist Anna Mann, and Chinese-born entrepreneur Deng. He has six children from his first three marriages.
Murdoch owns several major newspapers, including The Sun and The Times in the UK, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal in the United States, and papers in his native Australia.
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