Ahead of the latest season of Succession, real-life media mammoth Rupert Murdoch made some big news: He is reportedly embarking upon his latest romantic adventure with an engagement to be married that, if the couple makes it to the alter, will mark the billionaire’s fifth time saying “I do”.
Just shy of a year after he divorced Jerry Hall, the 92-year-old’s turtle-stride pursuit of San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith has concluded with him putting an engagement ring on it on. She said “yes” on St. Patrick’s Day in New York.
New York Post gossip queen Cindy Adams reports that Smith, 66, had previously been married to country singer and radio persona Chester Smith, who died in 2008. She met the nonagenarian at his vineyard in Bel Air last year.
“I’m a widow 14 years,” she tells the Post. “Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman. Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same beliefs.
“In perspective, it’s not my first rodeo. Getting near 70 means being in the last half. I waited for the right time. Friends are happy for me,” Smith added to Adams.
When they do end up in front of a minister at their summer wedding, it will mark Murdoch’s fifth marriage—not bad for being just shy of a century old. Hall, his also 66-year-old ex, was with the mogul for six years. Before that, Murdoch was married to Wendi Dang, from 1999 to 2013, Anna Maria Torv, from 1967 to 1999, and Patricia Brooker, from 1956 to 1967.
“I was very nervous,” Murdoch told the Post. “I dreaded falling in love—but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy.
“We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together,” he quipped.
The Other Moonstruck Mogul
But Murdoch isn’t the only media billionaire of late to fall in love with someone who just happens to be decades younger. Just last week, ShowBiz411 reported that 80-year-old David Geffen tied the knot with his 30-year-old boyfriend, Donovan Michaels, who may or may not have a history in front of the camera.
That secret, small wedding was said to be held right here in Beverly Hills.
Geffen came out as gay in 1992. Before finding the real thing with Michaels, Geffen—estimated to be worth $7.7 billion—was romantically linked with superstar Cher (1974-1985) and Marlo Thomas (1996), but since, he’s taken to his (younger) boyfriends, including Steve Antin (1989 – 1990).
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