92-Year-Old Murdock Announces 5th Marriage... Partner is a Retired Scientist 25 Years Younger

Engagement Canceled Two Weeks After Spring 2023 Announcement
New Partner Met That Summer, Engagement Made

Global media mogul Rupert Murdoch has become engaged once again at the age of 92.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

On the 7th (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported that Murdoch is set to marry Elana Zhukova (67), a retired molecular biologist who is 25 years his junior, in June. Murdoch's representative stated that wedding invitations have already been sent out and that the ceremony will take place at Murdoch's vineyard in Moraga, California. Having been in the media spotlight for multiple marriages and relationships, this will be Murdoch's fifth marriage. He has four previous marriages and six children in total: two sons and four daughters.

His first wife was Patricia, a former flight attendant, whom he divorced in 1967. His second marriage was to Anna, a former newspaper journalist, with whom he was married for over 30 years before their eventual separation. In 1999, at the age of 68, Murdoch married Wendy Deng, a 30-year-old Chinese woman, which attracted worldwide attention, but they divorced in 2013. His fourth wife, Jerry Hall, a former model and ex-wife of Mick Jagger, the lead vocalist of The Rolling Stones, married Murdoch in 2016 but they separated in June 2022 after six years of marriage. Murdoch then announced a fifth marriage in spring 2023 to Anne Lesley Smith, a retired dental technician, but the engagement was abruptly called off after about two weeks. At the time of the engagement announcement, Murdoch declared it would be his "last marriage," but the engagement was reportedly canceled due to religious reasons and the fianc?e's sense of burden.

Starting from the summer of 2023, Murdoch began dating his new partner Elana Zhukova, introduced by his third wife Deng. Elana Zhukova, Murdoch's new partner, is a molecular biologist who researched diabetes at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and other institutions. Her ex-husband is billionaire energy investor Alexander Zhukov. They emigrated together from Moscow to the United States during the late Soviet era. Alexander Zhukov is currently known to hold British citizenship and reside in London. Their daughter, Dasha Zhukova, is a prominent philanthropist and art patron who was married until 2017 to Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and former owner of the English Premier League (EPL) club Chelsea.

In November last year, Murdoch handed over the chairmanship of his media empire, News Corporation and Fox Corporation, to his eldest son Lachlan and stepped back from active management. He currently holds the honorary chairman title. The media noted that these companies are effectively controlled through a family company owned by Murdoch and the four children from his first and second marriages, adding that Murdoch's fifth marriage is unlikely to have any significant impact on the future of the company.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.