Rupert Murdoch (right), former Fox and News Corp chairman, is engaged to Elena Zhukova (left), a retired molecular biologist whom he started dating last year.
Murdoch turned 93 on Monday and Zhukova is 67. The wedding is set to be held at Murdoch’s Californian vineyard and estate and will mark the fifth time that the media mogul ties the knot.
Murdoch called off his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith in August last year. Vanity Fair reported that “one source close to Murdoch said he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Smith’s outspoken evangelical views”.
Interestingly, Murdoch and Zhukova were introduced to each other by another former Murdoch wife, Wendi Deng.
As if this new marriage couldn’t get any crazier, Zhukova’s daughter, Darya, had been married to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the former owner of English Premier League club Chelsea FC, until 2018.
After she and Abramovic said “nyet,” she has gone on to marry Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos, who himself had previously dated Paris Hilton and Mary-Kate Olsen.
Zhukova is a retired scientist, having left Russia in 1991. She later worked at the University of California. This will be her third marriage.
