Rupert Murdoch’s attention outside the courtroom, where his mass media company Fox Corp FOX is facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, is on a fifth set of nuptials.
The 92-year-old billionaire plans to marry San Fransisco police chaplain and former model Ann Lesley Smith, who he met at his house and winery in Bel Air, California, in September of last year, according to The Washington Post.
Murdoch, a father of six, announced the news in Fox News Corp’s New York Post on Monday, telling columnist Cindy Adams that the pair are “both looking forward to spending the second half of [their] lives together.”
Smith, a widow of 14 years, accepted Murdoch’s proposal on Saint Patrick’s Day, where he offered her an Asscher-cut diamond solitaire in New York City, according to the outlet.
“For us both it’s a gift from God,” Smith told Adams.
The couple, who plan to wed late this summer, told Adams how much the two have in common. “She and her [late] husband also owned a vineyard and had been in the wine business, Murdoch said. Smith, 66, discussed her experience in the media industry stating, “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.”
Murdoch, who attended former President Donald Trump’s first state dinner at the White House in 2018 with his former wife, model and actress Jerry Hall, according to CNN, isn’t likely to be sending an invite to Trump for his marriage to Smith.
Amid the Dominion lawsuit, Trump has taken to lashing out at Murdoch’s Fox News, accusing the network of favoring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and being for being “fake news.”
Evidence in the trial has shown that Murdoch, a former close ally of Trump, didn’t believe the 45th president’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, despite deciding not to stop many of the network on-air personalities from repeating it.
Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.