Rupert Murdoch has abruptly ended his engagement 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 turned conservative radio host, which was reported only last month.
The 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.”
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).
But 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 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.
Murdoch was previously married to Hall, Wendi Murdoch, Anna Murdoch Mann and Patricia Booker. He has six children.
