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Engagement off for 92-year-old media mogul Murdoch

The tycoon had become uncomfortable about 66-year-old Smith's evangelical views, says report

Published: Wed 5 Apr 2023, 11:07 AM

Updated: Wed 5 Apr 2023, 11:29 AM

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  • AFP

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Rupert Murdoch. Reuters file

Rupert Murdoch. Reuters file

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and a dental hygienist-turned-conservative radio host have abruptly called off their engagement, a report said Tuesday.

The 92-year-old announced his planned nuptials less than a month ago, telling his own New York Post that he would wed Ann Lesley Smith and the pair would spend "the second half of our lives together."

But Vanity Fair, citing unnamed sources close to Murdoch, said the wedding plans were suddenly halted.

The magazine reported one source saying Murdoch had become uncomfortable about 66-year-old Smith's evangelical views.

The ceremony had been planned for summer, a year after Murdoch's divorce from his fourth wife, model Jerry Hall.

The Australian Murdoch, whose media empire includes The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and other influential outlets, is worth more than $20 billion, according to Forbes.

Last month, he was enthusiastic about the relationship.

"I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love -- but I knew this would be my last. It better be," he told the New York Post. "I'm happy."

The pair met last year at an event he hosted at his vineyard in California.

"In perspective, it's not my first rodeo. Getting near 70 means being in the last half," said Smith. "I waited for the right time. Friends are happy for me."

Murdoch, who has six children, was first married to Patricia Booker, an Australian flight attendant, whom he divorced in the late 1960s.

He and his second wife, Anna Torv, a newspaper reporter, were together more than 30 years before divorcing in 1999. His third marriage to Wendi Deng ended in 2013.



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