Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch is in love again and has announced his engagement to girlfriend Ann Lesley Smith, less than a year after his divorce from his fourth wife Jerry Hall was finalized. Murdoch, 92, met Smith, 66, a San Francisco police chaplain, reportedly met only six months ago before getting engaged.
Murdoch revealed the news in an interview with one of his own publications, the New York Post, on Monday morning. He said that he proposed to Smith with an Asscher-cut diamond solitaire ring that he 'personally selected.' This will be Murdoch's fifth marriage. However, he also said that this will be his last.
Ready to Marry Again
Murdoch, who has already been married four times, said that he was "nervous" about proposing again and that he had "dreaded falling in love" - but he said he is confident that his marriage to Smith will be his last."
"I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I'm happy," Murdoch said of his new fiancée.
The newly engaged billionaire, whose estimated net worth is $17 billion, proposed in New York City on St. Patrick's Day while making fun of the fact in the interview that "I'm is one-fourth Irish."
The billionaire said he and Smith met last September at his Moraga winery in Bel Air, California, and that they first spoke on the phone two weeks after meeting at a 200-person gathering.
"We're both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together," Murdoch said. His relationship with the former police chaplain was first revealed by the Daily Mail in January.
According to gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who broke the story in the New York Post, Murdoch's future wife was previously married to a country-western singer Chester Smith who was also a radio and television executive who died in 2008.
According to the outlet, the two came closer because they both had experience working in the media industry and because Smith had formerly owned a vineyard and he still does.
The two "share the same beliefs," according to Smith, who called the friendship "a gift from God," and they "speak the same language."
"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 shared.
No Stopping Murdoch
Murdoch will have been married five times when he ties the knot with Smith this summer. He had a daughter named Prudence MacLeod who is now 64 years old, with his first wife Patricia Booker. With his second wife Anna Mann, he has daughters Grace and Chloe who are now 21 and 19, respectively. With his third wife Wendi Deng, he has sons Lachlan and James who are now 50 and 49 years old.
Murdoch and Hall, a former supermodel, did not have any children together during their six-year marriage, which ended last year.
The couple got married in London in March 2016 at Spencer House, which has a view of Green Park, after a whirlwind five-month romance.
Murdoch married Patricia, a former flight attendant in 1956. However, the couple divorced in 1967, nine years after the birth of their only child, Prudence.
The same year, Murdoch married Anna, a journalist from Glasgow. The two remained together for 32 years before their divorce in 1999. According to CNBC, his Anna received $1.7 billion as part of their divorce settlement, including $10 million in cash.
However, 17 days after divorcing his second wife Anna, Murdoch tied the knot with Wendi. Murdoch was 68 years old when they got married, and Wendi was only 30.
A News Corp spokeswoman revealed in June 2013 that the couple's 14-year marriage had been "irretrievably broken for more than six months" before it was publicized that they were separating.
That said, Smith also has been married twice. Prior to her marriage with Chester, Smith was married to John B. Huntington, an attorney who was a descendant of one of California's pioneering railroad families.
According to Smith's interviews, their relationship was gilded but miserable. The former police chaplain said that Huntington "physically and mentally abused her" in a statement to the Christian Broadcasting Network.
