By Aaron Miller-
Rupert Murdoch(pictured) has abruptly ended his engagement to Ann-Lesley Smith, with the wedding only months away, according to sources close to the 92-year-old media mogul.
Vanity Fair reported the news about the four-times-married Fox Corporation chairman’s engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, 66, a former San Francisco police chaplain and dental hygienist turned conservative radio host.
The news comes just two weeks after the billionaire announced the engagement to one his own newspapers, The New York Post, saying they planned to have a ceremony in late summer.
The short lived engagement is reflective of an alarming indecisiveness on the part of the wealthy news creator, who has made his fortune presiding over multiple news corporations after he inherited his father’s family business at the young age of 22.
As well as owning some of the UK’s biggest radio stations, such as talkSPORT and Virgin Radio which fall under Wireless Group, the stinking rich also owns a number of newspapers and magazines under News UK, including The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Murdock further owns Twentieth Century Fox, Fox News, Sky News Australia and publisher HarperCollins. His bank account is in extremely healthy condition.
The ill fated wedding was set for this summer, less than a year after Murdoch finalized his divorce from his fourth wife, the model Jerry Hall.
Murdoch and Smith were first spotted together on vacation in January, pictures showing the pair on a beach in Barbados. In late March, Murdoch announced the engagement in an interview with the New York Post.
“I was very nervous,” he said. “I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy.”
Smith expressed her own happiness to the Post, which Murdoch owns.
“I’m a widow 14 years,” she said. “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.”
Ann Lesley said that their relationship was a “gift from God.”
Her conclusion was in hindsight mistaken. As opposed to being a gift, the embarrassing last minute wedding flop was ironically a punishment from God for departing from her own biblical mandate never to marry a divorcee, exposing her adherence to a conflicting set of beliefs.
Anne Lesley Smith was seen last week wearing an 11-carat diamond engagement ring which was estimated to be worth approximately $2.5million- she was over the moon at the time.
Murdoch selected Smith’s engagement ring, the Post reported, picking out a Asscher-cut diamond solitaire. The pair got engaged on St Patrick’s Day, Murdoch noting that he picked the date because he is “one-fourth Irish”. Smith was seen wearing an engagement ring last week while out with Murdoch, according to the Daily Mail, an 11-carat diamond ring valued at around $2.5m (£2m).
It is yet to be established whether she will keep the ring or hand it back, the former is a more likely bet.
Discomfort
Sources close to Murdoch then told Vanity Fair that while the exact reason for the split was unknown, it could be due to Murdoch’s reported discomfort with Smith’s evangelical views.
Smith turned to Christianity and began preaching in the street in California, later marrying the country music singer Chester Smith, releasing an album with him in 2005.
Murdock’s own beliefs are not publicly known yet, but his paternal grandfather, Patrick John Murdoch, was a Presbyterian, so the Australian born media mogul has ancestry roots on Christianity, which does not necessarily mean he shares the faith personally.
However, Murdock was aware of her beliefs before he embarked on an engagement with her, his subsequent decision to ditch her arguably a slight on his own judgement.
Murdoch finalized his divorce from actress and model Jerry Hall in August. Murdoch was previously married to Hall, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Murdoch Mann and Patricia Booker. He has six children.
Murdoch and Smith, 66, first met in September at his vineyard Moraga in Bel Air, Murdoch told the News Corp-owned NY Post, which broke the news of the engagement.
Smith is a widow whose late husband was Chester Smith, a country singer, radio and TV broadcaster.
Anne Lesey-Smith Image: just jared.com
Smith was previously involved in a court battle with her husband’s stepchildren over his multimillion-dollar assets, Vanity Fair added. During the litigation, Smith was accused of “financial elder abuse” by one of the children. The case was settled in 2010.
No such court battle will ever occur with Rupert Murdock who has bowed out of the relationship before the big day, another gift probably awaits her down the line.