© Reuters
Maybe. Two weeks ago, Fox media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced his engagement to Ann Leslie Smith. Barely two weeks later, the engagement was called off. In her past life, Smith was a dentist and today heads up a conservative radio show. Per Vanity Fair, sources close to Murdoch say he will not agree with her strict evangelical Christian ideas.
However, everything looked cake and egg. The two were photographed together for the first time during a vacation in Barbados earlier this year. The Paparazzi managed to capture Smith with the help of the 92-year-old Murdoch on and off the sea. A month later, it was leaked that Murdoch had bought a new $30 million condo overlooking New York’s Central Park that would serve as a new love nest. A month later, Murdoch announced the news in the American “York Post”, a tabloid he owns. “I was very nervous,” Murdoch said at the time. “I was afraid of falling in love again, but I knew this would be my last love. It has to be. I’m happy.”
Ann Leslie Smith, 66, who was previously married to country singer and TV executive Chester Smith, spoke of her “gift from God.” “I have been a widow for fourteen years. Like Robert, my husband was a businessman. He worked for local newspapers and developed radio and television channels. So I speak Robert’s language. We share the same beliefs.”
The two have known each other since last September, when they met at his vineyard in California. “Anne and her husband were in the wine business. Then we started talking and two weeks later I called her.”
An abrupt end to the fairy tale
The Daily Mail came across another notable detail last week. Murdoch is said to have given Smith a ring with a diamond in it. The 11-carat stone will be worth $2.5 million. Apparently for nothing, because barely two weeks after the official announcement, the engagement and the accompanying wedding were called off.
No official response was received from the big boss of Fox Corporation. But Vanity Fair suspects that Smith’s somewhat obscure life may play a role. Since she was seen alongside Murdoch, journalists have been indifferent to her past. After the death of her second husband, country singer Chester Smith, her stepdaughters came into conflict over the singer’s fortune. According to Vanity Fair, Murdoch was having an increasingly difficult time with Too evangelical Opinions expressed by Smith on her broadcasts.
“Friendly communicator. Music trailblazer. Internet maven. Twitter buff. Social mediaholic.”
More Stories
IKEA organizes the largest flea market in Belgium
Conner Russo under fire: 'Instagram is a poser, the political version of acid'
From release date to cast