Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has married for the fifth time, to a Jewish molecular biologist called Elena Zhukova.
Murdoch, 93, who is not Jewish, wed Zhukova, 67, who is the former mother-in-law of Russian-Israeli oligarch Roman Abramovich.
The pair married on Saturday in a ceremony at Murdoch’s wine estate in Bel Air, California.
His media company News Corp confirmed the union.
His new wife Zhukova was born in Moscow to Jewish parents and emigrated to the US in 1991.
Murdoch, who has six children, was most recently married to model and actor Jerry Hall, but the pair divorced in 2022.
He was previously married to Australian flight attendant Patricia Booker, Scottish-born journalist Anna Mann and television executive Wendi Deng.
Before marrying Zhukova he was also engaged for a short time to Ann Lesley Smith, a former radio host from the US, but called off the engagement in March 2023.
Deng was the only one of his former wives to attend his latest wedding. It is understood that she introduced him and Zhukova to each other at a party she threw last year.
Rupert Murdoch and his new bride Elena Zhukova on their wedding day (Photo: NewsCorp)
Murdoch was married to Deng between 1999 and 2013, and they have two daughters.
Zhukova was previously married to Alexander Zhukov, a billionaire energy investor and Russian politician.
The pair have a daughter together called Dasha, who attended a Jewish day school in California.
Dasha went on to marry Russian billionaire Abramovich, but they divorced in 2018.
Roman Abramovich with his then girlfriend Daria Zhukova in 2010 (Photo by Alexander Fyodorov/Epsilon/Getty Images)
Elena Zhukova, who moved to Los Angeles to work at the University of California in 1994, specialised in the study of diabetes before she retired.
The happy couple at their wedding (Photo NewsCorp)
According to the Daily Mail, a UCLA colleague said: “Elena already came from a wealthy background. Then her daughter married a billionaire. Now the nuptials are over, the happy couple plan to spend most of their time at the Bel Air estate where Rupert is continuing to work on developing an internationally renowned winery.”
Despite not being Jewish, Murdoch is often incorrectly identified as such in the context of antisemitic conspiracies about Jews and the media.
The Australian-born media mogul is chairman emeritus of News Corporation, which owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Sun and the Times.
Murdoch stepped down as leader of both Fox News’ parent company and his News Corp media company last year leaving his son Lachlan in charge.
In 2012 Murdoch faced criticism for a tweet in which he attacked the “Jewish-owned press” for being “so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis”.
He was tweeting in the context of ongoing violence in the Middle East, with Israel mounting strikes in Gaza after a long series of rocket attacks by Hamas.
He later apologised for the tweet saying it was “inappropriate.”
In a letter to the Anti Defamation League, Murdoch wrote: “I feel very strongly about the righteousness of Israeli’s cause, particularly when its citizens are under missile attack.
“So I do get very upset when I see coverage that I feel is unfair and biased towards Israel. But I should have stuck to the substance of the issue and not bring in irrelevant and incorrect ethnic matters.”
At the time Abraham Foxman, ADL national director said: “After speaking with Mr Murdoch, it is clear that he deeply regretted posting his remark on Twitter and understands how his reference to ‘Jewish-owned media’ could play into the age-old antisemitic conspiracy theory about ‘Jewish control’ of the news media.
“We appreciate his effort to apologise, and to make clear that his remarks were an attempt to defend Israel made at a time when the Jewish state is under direct assault and were not intended to hurt or to offend.”
