Rupert Murdoch Marries for 5th Time, Weds Biologist Elena Zhukova

Rupert Murdoch is a married man for the fifth time. 

On Saturday, the 93-year-old former chairman of Fox News and News Corp wed retired Russian scientist Elena Zhukova, 67, in an intimate ceremony held at his Bel Air, California, vineyard, according to reports.

The June 1 wedding comes just three months after the couple announced their engagement in March.

The Daily Mail reports that among the high-powered and affluent guests in attendance were New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and News Corp. chief executive Robert Thomson. A photo of the happy couple on their wedding day was released by News Corp after the nuptials. 

According to a prior New York Times report, Zhukova is a University of California, Los Angeles graduate, whose work focused on molecular biology, specifically diabetes. She is the ex-wife of Russian politician and billionaire Alexander Zhukov. It’s unclear if that is her only previous marriage.  

As for Murdoch, the wedding marks his fifth time marching down the aisle. His last wedding happened in 2016 with model Jerry Hall and the pair split in 2022. He was also briefly engaged to Ann Lesley Smith in 2023, however, they called it quits just two weeks after announcing their engagement.

Murdoch has also been previously married to Wendi Deng (1999-2013), Anna Maria Torv (1967-1999) and Patricia Booker (1956-1967). He is the father of six children from his marriages: Prudence, 66, Elisabeth, 55, Lachlan, 52, James, 51, Grace, 22, and Chloe, 20. 

Notably, Lachlan — one of the three children Murdoch welcomed during his 32-year marriage with Torv — took over for his father as the chairperson of Fox News and News Corp after Murdoch stepped down in September 2023.