When Rupert Murdoch brought Jerry Hall home to Australia five years before marriage breakup

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall have ended their six-year marriage and will divorce, to the shock of friends who watched the happy power couple in the throes of love. 

That was no more apparent than when the media titan took his former supermodel bride home to Australia in January 2017, about 10 months after their low-key wedding in London.

Murdoch, 91, and Hall, 65, attended the belated Christmas party of then-Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, and later visited Melbourne on via a private jet.

The loved-up couple were all smiles as they walked arm-in-arm through the gates of Kirribilli House to meet political, media, and business elite.

Hall wore a striking crimson wiggle dress and matching cardigan draped across her shoulders, completing her look with a $5,000 red Bvlgari handbag, sunglasses and a statement pearl bangle. 

Murdoch looked sharp in a sky blue suit and white shirt with designer sunglasses.

Other high-powered guests at the event, which was put on ice due to Mr Turnbull’s overcrowded calendar, included Seven West Media chief executive Ryan Stokes, and Coca-Cola Amatil managing director Alison Watkins.

The soiree was also frequented by Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who was seen climbing out of a 7 series BMW sedan.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce appeared to have a spring in his step, on the heels of his $1 million pay rise and record annual profits for the airline – well before the pandemic grounded its fortunes.

Murdoch and Hall paid a visit to Melbourne a couple of weeks later on the News Corp boss’ Gulfstream 650 private jet.

Hall, 60, cut a slim figure in a glamorous all-white ensemble as she enjoyed a cigarette in the back of a limousine, while Murdoch, 85, looked dapper in a classic navy suit with matching tie and white shirt.

The powerhouse couple were joined by Murdoch’s eldest son Lachlan, who is part-heir to the $62 billion media empire, and his wife, British-born Australian model Sarah Murdoch.

The Murdoch family were ushered off a private jet while men in suits and airport staff loaded wooden boxes of Moraga wine and suitcases into a car.

Moraga Estate in California’s exclusive Bel Air enclave was bought by Mr Murdoch in 2013, and includes a winery that produces bottles starting at $175 up to $400.

Their joyful arrivals at lavish events in Australia were in contrast to Murdoch’s summer party earlier this week where revellers noted Hall’s absence. 

‘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,’ one of those present at the Serpentine Gallery in London on Monday evening said.

‘I also noticed that none of her side of the family was there, nor her friends.’

Murdoch and 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.

They ended their relationship recently, surprising friends, two people with knowledge of the situation told the New York Times.

Murdoch, who is worth $17.7 billion, has six children in total: daughter Prudence MacLeod, now 64, with his first wife Patricia Booker, daughter Elisabeth, now 53, and sons Lachlan, now 50, and James, now 49, with his second wife Anna Mann, and daughter Grace, now 21, and Chloe, now 19, who he shares with his third wife Wendi Deng.

Hall was previously in a long-term relationship with Rolling Stones rocker Mick Jagger, with whom she shares four children – Elizabeth, 38, James, 36, Georgia May, 30, and Gabriel, 24 – however the two never officially wed during their 22-year relationship.

The couple tied the knot in London in March 2016 in a very low-key ceremony at Spencer House, which overlooks Green Park, after a whirlwind five-month romance. 

At the time, the media tycoon expressed his joy over the union, tweeting shortly after the ceremony concluded that he would be taking a break from social media in order to enjoy newlywed life. 

‘No more tweets for ten days or ever!’ he wrote. ‘Feel like the luckiest AND happiest man in world.’ 

Murdoch had exchanged wedding vows on three occasions before he wed Hall.

He married his first wife, former flight attendant Patricia, in 1956, however the pair split in 1967, nine years after the birth of their only child, Prudence. 

That same year, he tied the knot with his second wife, Anna, a Glasgow-born journalist to whom he was married for 32 years, before their divorce in 1999. 

As part of their divorce settlement, Anna was awarded $1.7 billion, including $10 million in cash, according to CNBC. 

Murdoch went on to marry Wendi just 17 days after he divorced second wife Anna. At the time of their wedding Murdoch was 68, while Wendi was just 30 years old. 

That marriage lasted 14 years, before it was announced that the pair were divorcing, with a News Corp spokesperson revealing in June 2013 that their union had been ‘irretrievably broken for more than six months’. 

Murdoch and Hall began quietly dating in 2015, beginning their romance after being introduced in Australia by one of Murdoch’s sisters and his niece. 

The couple made their relationship public on October 31 when they were seen for the first time together at the Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham in London. 

They then attended the Golden Globes in Los Angeles in January 2016 – days before Murdoch announced that the pair were engaged. 

Murdoch popped the question with a 10-carat marquise diamond engagement ring that was said to be worth up to $3.5 million. 

In December 2021, just seven months before the news of their impending divorce was reported, Hall and Murdoch purchased a $200 million cattle ranch – called Beaverhead – in Montana, which was previously owned by oil baron Fred Koch and his children. 

Although details of the couple’s divorce settlement or paperwork have yet to be made public, it is likely that this split will be among one of the most expensive in the world – a less-than honorable title that Murdoch has already earned in the past, thanks to his $1.7 billion divorce from second wife Anna.