Is fifth time the charm? Rupert Murdoch to marry yet again

Ring the wedding bells, billionaire news mogul Rupert Murdoch is getting hitched once again after proposing to his latest partner Ann Lesley Smith on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Murdoch, 96, met his bride-to-be, 66, last September, just one month after settling his divorce from his fourth ex-wife, supermodel Jerry Hall, 66, in August.

Like a true businessman, Murdoch announced his engagement in one of his own newspapers, the New York Post, with an interview published on Monday, March 20.

Per the news article, Murdoch proposed to Smith with an Asscher-cut diamond solitaire ring, which he personally picked.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love — but I knew this would be my last,” he told the publication.

“It better be. I’m happy.”

According to Smith, “it’s a gift from God” that they had met last September during a 200-person event held at Murdoch’s Moraga vineyard in Bel Air, California.

“I’m a widow 14 years. 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,” she said.

“In perspective, it’s not my first rodeo. Getting near 70 means being in the last half. I waited for the right time. Friends are happy for me.”

Murdoch adds, “we’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together.”

The New York Post reports that the happy couple’s nuptials are scheduled for sometime in the summer of 2023.

Murdoch has been married a total of four times, tying the knot with his first wife Patrica Booker in 1956 before divorcing in 1967 and getting married for a second time to Wendi Murdoch in 1999 before the couple divorced in 2013.

Murdoch then married Anna Murdoch Mann in 1967, however, it wasn’t the third time lucky for the mogul as the couple divorced in 1999 before he finally married Jerry Hall in 2016.

Hall filed to officially separate from Murdoch on July 4 2022, citing “irreconcilable differences” as her reason for wanting to end their six-year marriage.

It is understood that Hall had reportedly employed some aggressive tactics in a bid to get the divorce proceedings moving which included hiring a former Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism officer to serve Murdoch with legal papers moments before he boarded his private jet following his granddaughter’s wedding.

It’s believed Hall’s decision to use such tactics was in response to how “devastated” she was by her marital breakdown after the media tycoon had allegedly ended their marriage via an email Hall had received while waiting for his return to the UK.