Report: Murdoch Has Called Off 5th Wedding

UPDATE Apr 4, 2023 5:47 PM CDT

Rupert Murdoch may not be heading down the aisle for a fifth time at age 92 after all. Sources tell Vanity Fair that the media mogul and 66-year-old Ann Lesley Smith have abruptly called off their engagement just weeks after it was announced. Murdoch, who split up with fourth wife Jerry Hall last year, told the New York Post last month that he proposed to Smith on St. Patrick's Day. The couple had reportedly been planning to marry this summer. It's not clear why Murdoch and Smith have called it quits, though one of Vanity Fair's sources says Murdoch was becoming "increasingly uncomfortable" with Smith's evangelical beliefs.

Mar 20, 2023 2:11 PM CDT

Rupert Murdoch has given one of his media properties a scoop. The 92-year-old tells the New York Post that he's getting married for a fifth time after proposing on St. Patrick's Day to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former San Francisco-area police chaplain. "I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love—but I knew this would be my last," Murdoch says. "It better be. I’m happy." Murdoch split from his fourth wife, former supermodel Jerry Hall, last year after six years of marriage. He says that he met Smith last year at his Moraga vineyard in Bel Air, California, and that they bonded over their shared knowledge of the wine business, reports Variety.

This will be the third marriage for Smith, whose second husband, country singer turned TV and radio exec Chester Smith, died in 2008, the Guardian reports. "I'm a widow 14 years," she tells the Post. "Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman. Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same beliefs." They plan to get married this summer and split their time among California, the UK, Montana, and New York. (More Rupert Murdoch stories.)