At his California property Moraga, media magnate Rupert Murdoch wed retired molecular scientist Elena Zhukova.
Murdoch was briefly engaged to conservative radio broadcaster Ann Lesley Smith. Zhukova started dating Murdoch in April, only four months after he spit with Smith.
The media mogul, who stepped down as chairman of Fox and NewsCorp in late 2023, married Zhukova, marking the sixth time he has married.
Elana’s daughter is 42-year-old Dasha Zhukova, a philanthropist and an art collector by profession. She was wed to Roman Abramovich, a Russian tycoon and ex-owner of Chelsea Football Club.
Famously, Murdoch filed for a dissolution of his marriage to Jerry Hall (an actress and model) in 2022 by email. That tidbit of info, when it broke in the news, painted Murdoch in a bad light. The impression was one of a cold-hearted, callous man.
After escaping Russia in 1991, Zhukova has spent more than 30 years of her life in the United States. Thanks to her career as a molecular biologist, she studied diabetes at prestigious universities like UCLA. According to reports, Zhukova and Murdoch first crossed paths through his third marriage to Wendi Deng, with whom he was married for fourteen years until their 2013 divorce. Currently residing in Southampton, New York, Zhukova is an investor, art collector, film producer, entrepreneur, and speculator.
Following the public announcement of their engagement in March 2024, the pair tied the knot in June 2024 at Murdoch’s ranch in California. On June 1, the wedding ceremony was held in Moraga, the mogul’s vineyard and estate.
Several “high-powered” individuals, such as Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and Robert Thompson, chief executive officer of News Corp., were there on the wedding day, and photographs of the newlyweds were taken. Zhukova met her first spouse, Alexander Zhukov, a Russian oil tycoon and current British citizen, while they were both students in the Soviet Union. She was previously married to him.
