Rupert Murdoch told his wife their marriage was over in an email, according to reports.
The 92-year-old media tycoon reached a divorce settlement with Jerry Hall, his fourth wife, last August after six years together.
Ms Hall, a 66-year-old model and mother to four children with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, reportedly told friends she was “heartbroken” and “devastated” by the split.
The pair’s divorce settlement simply cited “irreconcilable differences” and a joint statement said they remained “good friends”.
In a new report on relationships and power struggles in the Murdoch family, Vanity Fair revealed details of the couple’s final days, including Ms Hall’s bafflement at the abrupt end to her marriage to the head of the clan.
Sometime in June last year, Ms Hall was waiting for Mr Murdoch to arrive at their Oxfordshire estate when she checked her phone, the report read.
An email from Mr Murdoch, seen in screenshot by the magazine, said: “Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage. We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do … My New York lawyer will be contacting yours immediately.”
Ms Hall reportedly told people: “Rupert and I never fought,” outside of small disagreements over political matters. She was also cited as telling friends that she was required to move out of the couple’s Bel Air estate within 30 days and show receipts to prove that what she was taking belonged to her.
The Texan was part of Mr Murdoch’s shortest marriage to date after Patricia Booker (1956-1967), Wendi Murdoch (1999-2013) and Anna Murdoch Mann (1967-1999), and was his first wife with whom he did not have a child.
Months after the divorce with Ms Hall was settled, Mr Murdoch was seen on holiday in Barbados with Ann Lesley Smith, who he proposed to on 17 March in New York City.
The couple reportedly met late last year before making their relationship official last Christmas, when Ms Smith attended a dinner at Mr Murdoch’s home in Mayfair.
Ms Smith, a former radio host who is 25 years Mr Murdoch’s junior, was previously married to country-western musician Chester Smith, who died in 2008 at the age of 78. The pair recorded an album together in 2005, titled Captured by Love.
Mr Murdoch said he and Ms Smith were “looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together”. The wedding is reportedly set to take place in late summer.
News of their engagement came as one of the groom-to-be’s major news outlets, Fox News, faces a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) lawsuit in the US on defamation claims.
Murdoch in 2018 and bride-to-be Smith in 2020
