‘Rupert Murdoch broke up by email,’ say friends of Jerry Hall

Friends of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s wife Jerry Hall have reported that the 91-year-old broke up with his wife of six years via a “ruthless email”.

The wealthy chairman and CEO of News Corp, reportedly worth £14 billion (NZ$27.29 billion), is said to have dropped the bomb while Hall, 66, waited for him to join her in the UK. She was instructed to communicate only through Murdoch’s lawyers.

The Daily Mail reports that the sources said problems started to arise during the pandemic, when Hall apparently took on a ‘gatekeeper’ role to protect her husband. However, this did not go down well with Murdoch’s family.

“They thought Jerry was keeping them away from him,” a friend said. “She blames the children for the sourness of the marriage. They had a lot to say about it, and a role in his personal life, she found an unpleasant surprise. It was clear they mistrusted her.”

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The source also said the family had discussed earlier this year how much of Murdoch’s estate would be left to Hall after his death – the couple did sign a prenuptial agreement.

“Jerry is really devastated by what happened and insists it was all a bolt from the blue.”

The news, released just over a week ago, heralds the end of Murdoch’s fourth and shortest marriage.

Rumors that Murdoch had complained about his wife’s behavior, as well as that he didn’t like her enjoying a drink, have also been circulating since the news went public.

The couple married in March 2016, when Murdoch was 85 and Hall 59, in a London ceremony that resembled a mixed family portrait with bold faces with her children (whose father is Mick Jagger) and his (including the now CEO of Fox Corporation). ) in attendance.

Murdoch’s marriage to Hall still managed to avoid most of the tabloid friction that broke from his previous union with Wendi Deng.

Deng, a former News Corp employee who met Murdoch at a corporate event, famously punched a protester who threw a meringue pie at Murdoch during a UK parliamentary hearing in 2011.

And it was during that 1999-2014 marriage that Murdoch broke the terms of the trust that runs his family’s media empire to make room for his two daughters with Deng. At about the same time, Lachlan Murdoch, Murdoch’s eldest son and then his heir apparent, left the family business and returned to Australia; he has since returned as a major leader of the Murdoch Empire.