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Who is Rupert Murdoch’s new fiancée, Elena Zhukova? The billionaire media mogul is engaged for the sixth time … to a Russian former biologist who he met through his third wife, Wendi Deng

Rupert Murdoch (right)  is about to get married for the fifth time, to Russian biologist Elena Zhukova. Photo: X
Rupert Murdoch (right) is about to get married for the fifth time, to Russian biologist Elena Zhukova. Photo: X

  • The ex-media boss is about to wed Elena Zhukova, whose daughter Dasha was married to Roman Abramovich – the former couple amassed a US$1 billion art collection of Monet, Picasso and more
  • Last year, Murdoch was set to marry former police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith but called the engagement off soon after; he met his current fiancée through Wendi Deng, his third wife

Billionaire Rupert Murdoch is set to marry his girlfriend Elena Zhukova in June. This will be Murdoch’s fifth wedding and sixth engagement, with the media mogul making headlines last year after abruptly calling off his engagement to former police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith just weeks after announcing their intention to wed.

Rupert Murdoch (pictured) announced in early March that he plans to wed his girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, in June. Photo: AFP
Rupert Murdoch (pictured) announced in early March that he plans to wed his girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, in June. Photo: AFP
Australian-born American Murdoch stepped down as chairman of his media business in September 2023. Murdoch and his family are worth an estimated US$19 billion, per Forbes.
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So who is the woman – a quarter of a century his junior at age 67 to his 92 – who has captured his heart?

Elena Zhukova was married to Alexander Zhukova

Elena was married to Alexander Zhukova for three years around the early 1980s. According to the New Yorker, the couple met when they were students in Moscow. Elena and Alexander got married, had their daughter Dasha, and then split.

After the relaxing of policies governing private enterprises in the then Soviet Union, Alexander formed an energy-trading company, becoming a well-known billionaire energy investor. Alexander now lives in London as a British citizen and, also per the New Yorker, has an impressive London property portfolio and a villa in Sardinia.

When talking about her own family, Elena told the publication vaguely that they belonged to the “usual, normal Moscow intelligentsia”.

She was a biologist