Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch isn’t giving up on love. The 92-year-old recently announced that after several attempts, he is set to wed for the fifth time after proposing to his girlfriend Ann Lesley Smith in New York City over the weekend.
Murdoch — who told the New York Post he “dreaded falling in love” again, especially after his previous four marriages ended in divorce — said he met the 66-year-old woman last September during a visit to his Moraga vineyard in Bel Air, California. Since then, questions have been swirling about the new mystery woman.
Smith is a former police chaplain and journalist who was previously married to the late country music star Chester Smith, who died in 2008 of a heart attack at 78 years old. Like Murdoch, Smith has had her fair share of ups and downs in her love life.
At 28, Smith married into one of San Francisco’s most prominent families by way of then 47-year-old attorney and philanthropist John B. Huntington. However, after years of lavish spending, horseback rides, and charity work, Smith claimed her former husband “became a different person” and began to get physically abusive toward her, and the couple’s marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
Faced with homelessness, the Idaho State University graduate did odd jobs and worked as a model before meeting her late husband. The pair lived in Modesto and launched a music radio station where Smith worked as a host. They also released an album together titled Captured By Love.
As for her new relationship, Smith described it as “a gift from God.” She added, “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.”
The new couple plans to marry sometime in the summer. Murdoch’s last marriage was to American model and actress Jerry Hall in 2016. However, they divorced last August.
