92-Year-Old Rupert Murdoch Is Engaged Again Less Than A Year After His Divorce From Jerry Hall
Less than a year after his divorce from Jerry Hall was finalized, Rupert Murdoch is taking another chance on love. Rupert’s own New York Post reports that although the 92-year-old, understandably, “dreaded falling,” he apparently stumbled in the right direction and fell “in love” with Ann Lesley Smith, the 66-year-old widow of “country singer, radio and TV exec” Chester Smith. Rupert is worth an estimated $17 billion and according to Forbes, has a philanthropy score of 1 out of a possible 5. Which means he’s probably a shitty tipper. So marrying him is really Anne’s only option.
The pair plan to wed in “late summer” of this year, so kudos to Ann, too, because she’s taking an even bigger chance by not rolling his ass down to the courthouse TODAY. That is unless she’s waiting to see how the whole Dominion defamation lawsuit against Rupert’s Fox News Corporation plays out before pulling the trigger. According to People:
Rupert Murdoch is engaged to Ann Lesley Smith after proposing to the former police chaplain on St. Patrick’s Day in New York City.
The media mogul announced the engagement to one his own newspapers, The New York Post, in an interview published Monday.
Murdoch, 92, met his fiancée, 66, last September, just one month after he finalized his divorce from supermodel Jerry Hall, 66, in August.
The billionaire told the New York Post he gave Smith an Asscher-cut diamond solitaire ring which he chose himself. “I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love — but I knew this would be my last,” he told the outlet. “It better be. I’m happy.”
In reply, Smith said she can “speak Rupert’s language.”
“We share the same beliefs,” she added in the interview. Smith was previously married to country singer Chester Smith and has worked in radio, TV and print media.
Newsweek reports that Anne and her late husband recorded an album together before his death in 2008. Here’s a look at the cover art for 2005’s Captured by Love. Alternate title A.C.A.B. (All Chaplains Are Blessed)
Anne tells The Post that “for us both it’s a gift from God. We met last September,” at Rupert’s vineyard. Attention Future Gold/Grave Diggers of America: Here’s how it’s done. NYP reports:
Rupert on meeting at his vineyard Moraga in Bel Air, Calif.: “She and her husband also owned a vineyard and had been in the wine business. Last year when there was 200 people at my vineyard, I met her and we talked a bit. Two weeks later I called her.”
The groom-to-be adds: “We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together.”
All that money and can’t count for shit. What a world. Either that, or he’s hoarding the secret to eternal life in those horizontal chins of his. We know there’s gold in them thar hills, so who’s to say what else he might have squirreled away? Here’s the happy couple.
You know, in #thesetryingtimes, it’s important to sit and take stock of all one’s blessings. Because as poor and unfortunate as you may feel, there’s a good chance that someone out there who has it worse. Yes, even the super-wealthy! Imagine for a moment being one of Rupert’s six children. Not only is your dad a cartoon villain who looks like Mr. Magoo’s evil tether and four-time divorcee, at the quivery age 92, he’s still out here #inthesestreets trying to get his little ding-a-ling milked. And he’s so damn stingy; he’s making Anne buy the cow instead of just giving it away for free. As far as relations go, they were sentenced to life at birth, and Ann’s looking at what? An early parole in, at minimum, 30 minutes to an hour, and at maximum, just 5-10 years. Shit, she can do that kind of time in her sleep, especially since Rupert will probably be sleeping for most of it anyway.
Pic: Kristin Callahan/ACE Pictures/INSTARimages.com