Image:Model Jerry Hall and media magnate Rupert Murdoch arrive at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California January 10, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) – Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and former supermodel Jerry Hall got engaged over the weekend, announcing their plans to tie the knot in a classified ad on Tuesday in the Times newspaper, which is owned by Murdoch’s News Corp.
The 84-year-old executive chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox Inc and Hall, 59, became engaged in Los Angeles, where they had been attending Hollywood’s Golden Globes awards ceremony on Sunday, the London newspaper reported.
The three-times-married media tycoon and Hall – who is also a former actress and was the longtime romantic partner of Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger – began dating last summer after being introduced by one of Murdoch’s sisters and his niece while in Australia, the Times said.
Murdoch, a native of Melbourne, Australia, and Hall, who hails from Gonzales, Texas, were first photographed together at the Rugby Union World Cup Final in London in October.
“They have loved these past months together, are thrilled to be getting married and excited about their future,” a Murdoch family spokesman told the Times.
The announcement, published in the paper’s Births, Marriages and Deaths section, read: “Mr Rupert Murdoch, father of Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, James, Grace and Chloe Murdoch, and Miss Jerry Hall, mother of Elizabeth, James, Georgia and Gabriel Jagger, are delighted to announce their engagement.”
The newspaper did not say whether the couple had announced a date for their nuptials.
Murdoch divorced his third wife, Wendi Deng, a former executive at Murdoch-owned Star TV in China, in 2013 after 14 years, saying their marriage had been irretrievably broken.
In addition to the Times, Murdoch’s News Corp newspapers include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the Sun in Britain. Murdoch also controls 21st Century Fox, which owns cable networks like Fox News and movie studios. Hall was married to Jagger for more than 20 years. However, in divorce proceedings in 1999, the British musician claimed they were never legally married.
Before her relationship with Jagger, she had dated British pop star Bryan Ferry, front man of the band Roxy Music.
On Twitter on Tuesday, “Jerry Hall” was one of the top-trending terms in Britain after news of the engagement broke. Many Twitter users expressed surprise, calling the Hall-Murdoch pairing an unusual match, and some indulged in snark.
“So, Jerry Hall, what first attracted you to billionaire … No, actually, I still don’t understand it,” tweeted actor David Schneider (@davidschneider).
(Reporting by Ankush Sharma in Bangalore and Michael Holden in London; Additional reporting by Jessica Toonkel and Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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