Rupert Murdoch’s New Wife – Is He Getting Married For the 5th Time?
Matthew Barrera
Published Apr 11, 2026
Ann Lesley Smith, Rupert Murdoch’s new wife, belongs to San Francisco. Murdoch’s life has taken an interesting turn as he recently became engaged to the 66-year-old Ann Lesley Smith.
After a short period after splitting from Jerry Hall, the 84-year-old media mogul and business tycoon is set to tie the knot with Smith, whom he reportedly first met nearly two decades ago when she became friends and chaplain to his adult children.
While it might seem surprising that Murdoch and Smith have taken this bold step, it is heartwarming news as they share a bond that has matured over time.
Credit: CHRISBRANDIS.COM / BACKGRID Copyright: Copyright © 2022 BACKGRID Australia
Murdoch first met Smith in September 2022 at a 200-person gathering held at his Moraga winery in Bel Air, California.
The businessman revealed, “I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy.”
He proposed to Ann on St. Patrick’s day, noting that he was “one-fourth Irish” and had been “very nervous”.
The couple plans to get married in the summer. Murdoch added, “We’re both excited to spend the second half of our lives together.
Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul whose corporate empire extends from Fox News in the US to the influential tabloid The Sun in the UK, is getting ready to tie the knot for a fifth time.
The wedding will take place in late summer and the couple will spend their time between California, Montana, New York and the UK.
The previous marriages of Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch’s life has been filled with many personal and professional milestones, including two marriages.
After meeting in Australia in 1956 and marrying the same year, he and his first wife Patricia Booker had one daughter, Prudence.
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However, the marriage lasted only 11 years; it dissolved in 1967 when Murdoch married former journalist Anna Torv who worked at The Daily Telegraph.
Together they had three children – Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James – yet the couple called it quits after 32 years together in 1999.
In 1999 Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng made headlines when their whirlwind marriage only three weeks after Murdoch’s divorce with his ex-wife Anna Torv was finalized.
Reports suggest that the couple had first met in 1997, when Deng was an intern at a Hong Kong TV station owned by Murdoch’s News Corp.
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Nine years later, their union had produced two daughters: Grace and Chloe. But in 2013, it all came undone when Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng.
What the future holds for Rupert Murdoch remains to be seen, but the announcement of his previous divorce most certainly sent shockwaves through international media outlets.
The ultra-glamorous Jerry Hall was renowned in the ’70s and 80’s. When she began a romantic relationship in 2015 with business magnate Rupert Murdoch, it certainly caught a lot of attention.
Yet not even two years later, the couple decided to tie the knot in Longs St. Bride’s Church. This wasn’t their first serious relationship either; Hall famously dated Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, with whom she shares four children.
After their wedding in 2016, Hall and Murdoch dissolved the union after 6 years due to infidelity on Murdoch’s part. Interestingly enough, this makes Murdoch’s fourth divorce, making him now father to six children in total from all his past marriages.
Not only an established businessman but one of global significance too—Murdoch is famed for his holding company News Corporation which owns channels such as Fox News across America and The Sun tabloid in Britain.
Rupert Murdoch New Wife to be, Ann Lesley Smith
Ann Lesley Smith is an American journalist. Before quitting the field to work as a christian minister in prison chaplaincy, she was a journalist who aired her radio show in the US called Ann Lesley Live
After some time, Ann returned to her career in journalism and began working for one of Rupert Murdoch’s magazines.
Ann Lesley Smith was a former police chaplain who lived in San Francisco before meeting Rupert Murdoch.
Given their shared past and conviction that marriage is a “gift from God,” it may make perfect sense that Ann and Rupert met and fell in love.
Previous relationships of Ann Lesley Smith
She was previously married to John B. Huntington, a lawyer from a prominent California railroad family.
The 66-year-old groom, who previously admitted to The Christian Broadcasting Network that drinking made him a “different person,” asserts that Ann Lesley and John’s marriage was tumultuous.
The former dental hygienist alleged that her abuser had “physically, mentally, and emotionally abused” her.
During the couple’s difficult divorce, Ann Lesley went through a challenging period when she thought of committing herself. She was abandoned and now relies on assistance.
She continued that it was getting so bad that I wanted to terminate my life. In the difficult days following this divorce, she encountered Religion. Subsequently, she began serving as a volunteer police chaplain.
According to The Modesto Bee, she met her future husband, Chester, at this job and learned about a new career as a radio DJ.
She was referred to as Chester’s “loving wife” in his 2008 obituary, indicating that she had a happy second marriage.
They worked together on the 2005 album Captured By Love, though it is unknown how long they had been married at his death.
Ann Lesley’s fascinating highs and lows as she prepares to make her third trip to the altar and eventually become Rupert’s fifth wife.
