Rupert Murdoch to marry for the fifth time at 92

Australian billionaire to marry former San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith in late summer

Rupert Murdoch, 92, will marry San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith, 66. AFP

Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old media tycoon, is engaged for the fifth time.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love — but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” Mr Murdoch said in an interview with The New York Post, one of his newspapers.

He is engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old former San Francisco police chaplain and widow of late country singer and TV executive Chester Smith.

“In perspective, it’s not my first rodeo. Getting near 70 means being in the last half. I waited for the right time,” she told the newspaper.

Mr Murdoch and Ms Smith met at his vineyard in Bel Air, California, last year. Mr Murdoch called her two weeks later and they are now “looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together”, he was quoted as saying.

The couple plan on getting married in late summer and intend to split their time between California, Montana, New York and the UK.

Mr Murdoch was first married to Patricia Booker, an Australian flight attendant, in 1956. They divorced in 1967.

The Australian billionaire last year finalised a divorce from his fourth wife, actress and model Jerry Hall.

Mr Murdoch has six children.

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall in 2019. Reuters