New York: Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch will be turning 93 in three days’ time.
For him, age is just a number and it’s never too late to get into a new relationship.
The Australia-born American business magnate, investor and media proprietor is engaged to 67-year-old Elena Zhukova, his team confirmed.
This is Murdoch’s sixth engagement, coming less than a year after his brief engagement to American radio host Ann Lesley Smith.
The former chairman of Fox and News Corp has been dating Zhukova since April 2023 and plans to marry her in June at Moraga, his California vineyard and estate.
Who is Elena Zhukova?
Elena Zhukova is a retired Russian molecular biologist specialising in diabetes research. Her work in this field includes research at the University of California.
Moscow-born Zhukova moved to the US in 1991, during the final years of the Soviet Union.
Zhukova met Murdoch during a family gathering organised by the latter’s third former wife, Wendi Deng.
Zhukova was married twice before, including with Russian oil billionaire Alexander Zhukov with whom she has a daughter, Dasha Zhukova.
Murdoch’s previous wives
In 1956, Murdoch married Patricia Booker, a former shop assistant and flight attendant from Melbourne. The couple had their only child Prudence in 1958, before divorcing in 1967.
The same year, Murdoch tied the knot with Scot Anna Maria Torv, a cadet journalist who worked for his Sydney newspaper The Daily Mirror. They had three children — Elisabeth Murdoch (born in 1968), Lachlan Murdoch (born in 1971) and James Murdoch (born in 1972). Murdoch and Anna Maria divorced in 1999.
Seventeen days after divorcing Anna Maria, Murdoch married Chinese-born Wendi Deng, was the newly-appointed vice-president of his STAR TV. The couple had two daughters — Grace (born in 2001) and Chloe (born in 2003). They divorced in 2013.
In 2016, Murdoch married former model Jerry Hall. The two were together for six years before going their separate way in 2022.
