Rupert Murdoch marries for the fifth time, at his winery in Bel-Air

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 93, married his fifth wife in a ceremony Saturday at his Moraga winery in Bel-Air. The Fox and News Corp. chairman emeritus tied the knot with retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67. Their marriage comes a little over a year after Murdoch broke off a two-week-long engagement with former San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith.

Photos of Saturday’s ceremony released by News Corp. show a beaming couple on the lush estate grounds. Zhukova was reportedly dressed by London-based designer Emilia Wickstead, who has also worked with Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle.

It has been hard to keep track of Murdoch’s romantic attachments over the years. He married his first wife, flight attendant Patricia Booker, in 1956. They had one child, Prudence, and divorced almost a decade later. That same year, Murdoch married Scottish journalist Anna Torv. The marriage lasted more than three decades and produced three children: Elisabeth, James and Lachlan, who is now executive chairman and CEO of News Corp.

It took 17 days after Murdoch’s 1999 divorce from Torv for him to marry entrepreneur Wendi Deng (it was at a party at Deng’s house where Murdoch reportedly met Zhukova). Murdoch and Deng had two children, Grace and Chloe, and divorced in 2013. In 2016 Murdoch married model Jerry Hall. That union ended in 2022.

Murdoch’s latest marriage marks a new chapter for the conservative newsman. It comes less than a year after Fox Corp. and News Corp. announced that Murdoch would step down from his executive role at the two companies, and that Lachlan would succeed him.