It’s been fairly a yr for 92-year-old media tycoon Rupert Murdoch within the romance division.
In April, the Fox Information mogul ended his whirlwind engagement with Ann Lesley Smith, a one-time dental hygienist and conservative radio host from Modesto who reportedly favors “QAnon-style politics” and who has a sample of marrying older, rich males, together with the late John B. Huntington, the scion of certainly one of San Francisco’s most distinguished households.
Now, on Monday, comes a report that Murdoch has already moved on and has been having fun with a yachting trip with Elena Zhukova, the previous mother-in-law of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Her daughter, Dasha Zhukova, is the jet-set socialite who was previously married to Abramovich and who has loved shut friendships with Ivanka Trump, Karlie Kloss and Murdoch’s third spouse, Wendi Deng.
The Drudge Report broke the information of Murdoch’s newest romance, citing a supply who mentioned he has “the power of individuals half his age,” the Day by day Mail reported. The supply additionally informed The Drudge Report: “He simply is likely to be in love once more.”
The Day by day Mail additionally reported Monday that Murdoch and Elena Zhukova are cruising the Mediterranean aboard the legendary superyacht Christina O, which he has rented. As of Monday, the yacht was anchored off the coast of Corfu.
Given the worldwide fascination with Murdoch’s love life, information retailers feverishly searched the title Elena Zhukova, and it’s doubtless there are some girls on the market who’re being inundated with requests for remark Monday. The Drudge Report solely mentioned that Murdoch’s new romantic curiosity is a scientist.
The Day by day Mail reported that Zhukova is a twice-divorced molecular biologist and specialist in diabetes. She has lived in America for greater than three many years after leaving Russia in 1991 together with her daughter, Dasha. Earlier than retiring, Zhukova labored on the medical analysis unit in UCLA.
Sources informed the Day by day Mail that Zhukova spends quite a lot of time together with her grandchildren by Dasha and Abramovich, who divorced in 2019. Dasha Zhukova is now married to Stavros Niarchos, the billionaire inheritor to the transport dynasty.
A lady with an experience in molecular biology and diabetes definitely sounds very completely different from Murdoch’s current previous companions. Then once more, Elena Zhukova would have change into accustomed to the existence of the very, very wealthy, courtesy of her daughter and her controversial ex-son-in-law.
The billionaire Abramovich was slapped with sanctions by the US, the UK and the European Union, after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to invade Unkraine in 2022. Abramovich amassed a fortune in Russia’s oil and aluminum industries following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. The European Union described him as “an oligarch who has shut ties to Vladimir Putin” together with “privileged entry” to the Kremlin chief, connections the EU mentioned had helped him keep his belongings, Reuters reported.
Murdoch was married to Deng, an entrepreneur, movie producer and artwork collector, from 1999 to 2013. He subsequent spent six years married to former supermodel Jerry Corridor, the longtime ex-partner of Mick Jagger. That marriage instantly ended in the summertime of 2022, when Corridor was “blindsided” by an electronic mail from Murdoch, saying he needed to finish the wedding, Vainness Truthful reported in April.
Six months later, Corridor and the remainder of the world earned that Murdoch was relationship Smith, the widow of the late Modesto-based TV mogul Chester Smith. Corridor acknowledged Smith as a girl who had dined together with her and Murdoch at their ranch in Carmel, Vainness Truthful reported.
On the time, Smith was relationship the ranch’s supervisor, Vainness Truthful mentioned. She additionally was a conservative radio host “with QAnon-style politics” who flattered the media mogul by telling him that he and Fox Information have been saving democracy. Corridor recalled how Smith had supplied to provide Murdoch a tooth cleansing, Vainness Truthful additionally reported.
Maybe it’s some comfort to Corridor that Murdoch fairly shortly dispatched Smith, a mere two weeks after asserting their engagement in late March. In breaking the information that Murdoch had known as off the engagement, Vainness Truthful author Gabriel Sherman reported that Smith’s politics and spiritual views might need been too excessive even for the person who owns Fox Information. A supply near Murdoch informed Sherman that Murdoch had change into “more and more uncomfortable” with Smith’s “outspoken evangelical views.”
It’s additionally attainable that Murdoch — or folks near him — had change into more and more uncomfortable with information experiences that started circulating about Smith. Particulars about her private historical past have been sketchy, together with the place she was born and grew up. It additionally change into identified that she had been married at the least twice to much-older males and that these marriages led to bitter and protracted authorized fights over cash.
Murdoch definitely is aware of much more about Elena Zhukova’s previous and politics, given her daughter’s affiliation along with his ex-wife. After all, perhaps the supposed romance isn’t critical: Murdoch and Zhukova are simply “having enjoyable collectively” and “retaining it informal,” as youthful movie star {couples} are likely to say when they’re found doing sleepovers at one another’s properties or occurring yachting holidays collectively.
This story has been up to date.
