(Daily Mail) - Jerry Hall will receive a 'generous' slice of Rupert Murdoch's £14billion fortune and have her VIP lifestyle bankrolled in perpetuity plus part of the £270million property empire they have built together in the UK and US since they married in 2016, experts told MailOnline today.
The couple are reportedly divorcing after six years with their apparent split revealed publicly when she failed to attend his annual summer party in London this week - and nor did her side of the family.
- New York Times is reporting that Rupert Murdoch, 91, and Jerry Hall, 65, are calling quits on their marriage
- This will be Murdoch's fourth divorce; before Hall he was married to and had two daughters with Wendi Deng
- Hall was previously unmarried, however she was in a 22-year relationship with rocker Mick Jagger until 1999
- Jerry Hall had four children with Rolling Stones star Jagger: Elizabeth, James, Georgia May, and Gabriel
- Murdoch, who is the CEO and Chairman of media group News Corp, has a whopping fortune of £14billion
Speculation is rife today over how the vast wealth of Rupert Murdoch would be affected by a divorce - his fourth - and how much of the media mogul’s £14billion fortune may go to Jerry Hall.
Lawyer Mark Stephens, of the Howard Kennedy firm, said Mr Murdoch is likely to have signed a ‘fairly generous’ pre-nuptial agreement. This would have been drafted with the ‘anticipation of not interfering with the line of succession’, for the tycoon’s business empire.
But while Miss Hall may be entitled to tens of millions of pounds - it is more likely to be paid to her in the form of day-to-day expenses. He told MailOnline: 'She is going to have her lifestyle funded without a transfer of funds'.
However, properties the couple have acquired since marrying may be at stake. In 2019, they bought an £11.25 million Georgian property near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. A year later, it emerged they had snapped up Great Tew Manor – a ‘doer-upper’ in the Cotswolds which was earmarked for a £30 million restoration project.
Last December the couple spent £228 million on a 340,000-acre cattle ranch near Yellowstone Park in the US.
The family’s other properties, believed to be held in trust, include a $50million New York apartment, a ranch in California, a $30million winery in Los Angeles, and a sheep and cattle farm in Mr Murdoch’s native Australia. There is also a Mayfair apartment for when the media mogul is in London.
Miss Hall made a fortune from her career as a model, becoming the face of brands such as Revlon cosmetics. She also had small roles in films including Batman. Her split from Mick Jagger left her with an estimated settlement of up to £18 million.
When Mr Murdoch divorced Wendi Deng in 2014, their 'amicable' settlement is believed to have included cash and assets, including a mansion in China and an apartment in New York. But she did not receive a share of Murdoch's media empire and their split did not affect the rules of the Murdoch family trust.
The union with Jerry Hall represented a fourth marriage for Mr Murdoch, who is worth an estimated £14billion. It was technically a first marriage for Miss Hall, following a 22-year relationship – and four children – with Mick Jagger. She tied the knot with the Rolling Stones frontman on a beach in Bali in 1990, but this was annulled following their split in 1999.
It is not known whether Mr Murdoch and Miss Hall had signed a pre-nuptial agreement. However, Mr Murdoch did have one with his third wife, Wendi Deng.
Revellers at Mr Murdoch's summer party earlier this week had noted Miss Hall's absence. One of those present at the Serpentine Gallery in London on Monday evening said: 'I did think it was odd that she wasn't there. She's a social butterfly and would generally be at these sort of functions. I also noticed that none of her side of the family was there, nor her friends.'
Mr Murdoch and Miss Hall were last seen together in public in London in August 2021, when they were pictured arriving separately for a dinner. They are understood to have left together in a shared car.
The New York Times cited two sources for its story of the split. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
Friends told the newspaper that during the early days of his marriage to Miss Hall, Mr Murdoch was 'happily devoting more time to his new wife', leaving son Lachlan – his chosen successor at the helm of his media empire – and his other children to 'assert themselves at the top of the corporate hierarchy'.
Mr Murdoch's businesses include Sky TV and the Sun and Times newspapers. He also owns US television network Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, along with several ventures in his native Australia.
Mr Murdoch met Miss Hall after his split from Miss Deng, 53, whom he divorced in 2014 after 14 years of marriage. An entrepreneur and investor, Miss Deng hit headlines in 2011 when she slapped a man who had thrown a custard pie at her husband at a parliamentary committee during the phone-hacking scandal.
When the couple split, there was speculation – denied by Miss Deng – that she had grown close to Tony Blair, the godfather of her and Mr Murdoch's daughter Grace.
Mr Murdoch met Miss Hall in Australia in 2015. After weeks of speculation, the couple went public at the rugby world cup final at Twickenham in London that October. Mr Murdoch was photographed kissing Miss Hall on the cheek while she smiled broadly.
They made their first red carpet appearance together at the Golden Globes in 2016. Friends said at the time: 'Rupert couldn't be happier. He's not acting like some dotty old man who's in love with a teenager. He just seems really, really happy. It's a wonderful thing'.
Miss Hall moved out of the £13million home in Richmond, south-west London, where she had lived since her split with Sir Mick after discovering he had fathered a child with Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez. Announcing his engagement on Twitter, Mr Murdoch called himself 'the luckiest and happiest man in the world'. He presented Miss Hall with a 20-carat ring believed to be worth over £2.4million.
Their official wedding was a small affair, a week before Mr Murdoch's 85th birthday, attended by a handful of close friends. Days later, they held a public ceremony at St Bride's church in London's Fleet Street with guests including Bob Geldof, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tom Stoppard, Tracey Emin and Michael Caine. Miss Hall wore an ice-blue silk Vivienne Westwood gown, believed to have cost about £8,000.
Friends said Miss Hall brought more 'balance' to her husband's life after decades of focus on his businesses. Among the few signs of tension was when Miss Hall pulled out a West End revival of The Graduate. Mr Murdoch reportedly banned her from reprising the role of Mrs Robinson, which she had previously played in London and involves on-stage nudity.
Last year, Miss Hall attended Mr Murdoch's 90th birthday party at Tavern on the Green, an upmarket restaurant in New York. She reportedly 'doted' on him during the festivities, which were attended by luminaries from business, sports and politics, a source said.
Mr Murdoch's first wife was Patricia Booker, an Australian model. They divorced in 1965.
He was married to his second, Anna, a former newspaper reporter, for more than three decades until they split in 1999. Their divorce remains the second most expensive in history at a reported cost to Mr Murdoch of £1.5billion. Before dating Sir Mick, Miss Hall was in a relationship with singer Bryan Ferry and was the cover star of his 1975 album Siren.
Between them, Mr Murdoch and Miss Hall have ten children. Mr Murdoch's are: Prudence, 63, from his first marriage; Elisabeth, 53, Lachlan, 50, and James, 49, from his second; and Grace, 21, and Chloe, 19, from his third. Miss Hall has four children, all with Sir Mick: Elizabeth, 38, James, 36, Georgia May, 30, and Gabriel, 24.
At Mr Murdoch's summer party on Monday evening, the tycoon talked to Boris Johnson for 15 minutes. Other Cabinet members present included Priti Patel, Liz Truss, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid and Kemi Badenoch, the local government minister.
Mr Murdoch's children Lachlan, Grace and Chloe were also present, a source said. A spokesman for Miss Hall could not be reached for comment last night.
A spokesman for Mr Murdoch declined to comment.
Fourth time divorce for him – but a first for her
Before marrying Jerry Hall, Rupert Murdoch had already been through three divorces, the first being to the late Patricia Booker.
For Miss Hall, the reported divorce would be a first for, although she shared a decades-long relationship with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, the pair were never legally married.
Mr Murdoch married Miss Booker in 1956 and they divorced in 1967. Their daughter Prudence worked for her father’s News of the World tabloid newspaper. Later in 1967, Mr Murdoch married Scottish journalist Anna Torv. This would be his longest marriage and they had three children: Elisabeth, Lachlan – his chosen heir – and James.
The couple divorced in 1999.
Fourth time divorce for him – but a first for her
Before marrying Jerry Hall, Rupert Murdoch had already been through three divorces, the first being to the late Patricia Booker.
For Miss Hall, the reported divorce would be a first for, although she shared a decades-long relationship with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, the pair were never legally married.
Mr Murdoch married Miss Booker in 1956 and they divorced in 1967. Their daughter Prudence worked for her father’s News of the World tabloid newspaper. Later in 1967, Mr Murdoch married Scottish journalist Anna Torv. This would be his longest marriage and they had three children: Elisabeth, Lachlan – his chosen heir – and James.
The couple divorced in 1999.
THE LOVES IN THE LIVES OF A SUPERMODEL AND A BUSINESS MOGUL BEFORE THEY FOUND EACH OTHER
Murdoch was first married to Patricia Booker, a former flight attendant from Melbourne.
They had a daughter, Prudence, together but split in 1966 after 11 years of marriage.
A year after the divorce, he married Glasgow-born journalist Anna Torv, who he met when she was working with a newspaper in Sydney and had the chance to interview him.
The couple had three children together and were married for more than 30 years before ending their relationship in 1999. Details are sparse but it has been reported that the divorce cost him $1.7 billion.
Just weeks after the divorce, Murdoch married Wendi Deng, a businesswoman from China, who he met while she was an intern at a TV station owned by News Corp.
She was 38 years his junior and had previously been married to a man 30 years older than her.
Murdoch and Deng split in 2013 and he remained single until news of his relationship to former model Jerry Hall – 25 years his junior - was announced last year.
Meanwhile Hall was perhaps known for her relationship with Mick Jagger, who she was with for more than 20 years. However, she had a star-studded relationship history long before meeting him.
She moved to Paris as a model in the 70s and was reportedly the girlfriend of Bryan Ferry, appearing on the cover of his band Roxy Music's first album Sirens.
They split five months later, but she also appeared in a 1976 video for his solo hit Let's Stick Together.
By then she was one of the world's most famous models and met Mick Jagger in 1976.
They have four children together and had an unofficial marriage ceremony in Bali in 1990, but split in 1999, because of his infidelity, Hall claimed.
After that, she had a number of younger lovers, starting with film producer George Waud, then London banker Tim Attias, 49.
She then met scientist Armand Leroi, 51, but the two split last year, before her relationship to Murdoch was announced when they were pictured at the Rugby World Cup in October 2015.
By Martin Robinson and Daniel Bates
June 23, 2022
