Rupert Murdoch Unmasked: 10 Startling Revelations From Bombshell Report

Fox Corp FOX media mogul Rupert Murdoch may be breathing a sigh of relief that a lawsuit, which was filed against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems, was settled on Tuesday at a cost of $787.5 million, far less than the $1.6 billion Dominion originally sought.

Four of his six children, who are set to battle for control of Murdoch’s business after he dies, are likely relieved as well, although the media company has further legal troubles ahead, for which a precedent has now been set.

Murdoch’s handling of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat is likely to haunt him and his family for some time, but in his 92 years, the billionaire has woven a web of both personal and business drama and has so far survived relatively unscathed.

In a Vanity Fair report published April 12, Gabriel Sherman dropped proverbial bombs about Murdoch, his family, and their acquaintances delving deeply into Murdoch's inner workings, and “As Fox and family insiders tell it, this could just be the beginning,” Sherman said.

The Bombshell Report

Although Murdoch never believed Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him, as evidenced by text messages made public during the Dominion suit, Murdoch always despised Trump, according to the report. A person close to the billionaire told Sherman, “Rupert knew he [Trump] was an idiot.”

When Murdoch called Trump to ask the then-president to concede the election, Trump threatened to take Fox News down and put the company out of business.

While Murdoch is conservative, his alliances on the political spectrum waver to increase his wealth. Murdoch’s publications in the United Kingdom promoted both Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher and Labor Party leader Tony Blair.

When Jerry Hall (Murdoch’s fourth wife who he divorced last year) asked Trump during a 2016 lunch to move the Dakota Access Pipeline away from Native American reservations, Trump reportedly responded by asking the former supermodel if she wanted to serve in the White House as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

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Murdoch’s oldest son, Lachlan, deeply opposed his father’s $71.3 billion deal to sell 21st Century Fox to Disney, while his brother James supported the decision. Lachlan was hospitalized after having a panic attack regarding the idea of the deal, and he and his brother no longer speak, according to the report.

After Murdoch broke his back while sailing on his yacht with Hall in 2018, it was discovered he had experienced broken vertebrae previously. Murdoch told his doctors the injury must have been from a time his third wife, Wendy Deng, pushed him into a piano while the two were fighting.

Despite allowing media personalities on Fox News to promote conspiracy theories on COVID-19, lockdowns and treatments, Murdoch was one of the first people in the world to receive a vaccination, according to the publication.

Murdoch ended his marriage to Hall via email, while she was waiting to meet him last summer at their Oxfordshire estate. The email began: “Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage,” according to Sherman.

After receiving that estate as part of her divorce settlement, Hall, who played crime boss Alicia Hunt in the original “Batman” movie, found surveillance cameras in the home that were broadcasting footage back to Fox headquarters, Sherman reports. The cameras were removed by a security consultant that was sent to the home by Hall’s former husband, Mick Jagger.

According to the report, Murdoch decided to vacation in Barbados with Ann Lesley Smith, who he became engaged to for two weeks last month.

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Photo: Eva Rinaldi on flickr