Wendi Deng Murdoch (Chinese:邓文迪;pinyin:Dèng Wéndí; bornDeng Wen'ge; December 5, 1968) is aChinese-born American entrepreneur and socialite. She was the third wife of media mogulRupert Murdoch from 1999 until 2013.
She attended Xuzhou First Secondary School (a.k.a.Xuzhou No.1 Middle School). She became a competitivevolleyball player.[9][10] While she was in high school, her father relocated toGuangzhou, where he was a factory director[5] at the People's Machinery Works; she and her family remained in Xuzhou until they joined their father a short time later.[1] In 1985, she was enrolled at theGuangzhou Medical College.[5]
In 1988, she left medical school and went to the United States on a study permit. She enrolled atCalifornia State University, Northridge,[11] where she studied economics and was among the top scoring students.[12][13] She obtained aBA in Economics from California State University at Northridge and anMBA fromYale University.[6]
Upon graduation from Yale in 1996,[14] Deng met Bruce Churchill. At that time, Churchill oversaw finance andcorporate development at theFox TV branch inLos Angeles. He offered Deng an internship at News Corp subsidiaryStar TV in Hong Kong, which developed into a full-time junior executive position. Though a junior employee, she took a role in working to plan Star TV's operations in Hong Kong and China and helped to build up Chinese distribution for Star's Channel V music channel.[5] Within one year, she became a vice president.[6] Additionally, she investigated interactive TV opportunities for News Digital Systems.[5]
Deng was an advisor forMySpace's China operation, prior to the company's sale to Specific Media in June 2011.[15][16][17] She led the Murdoch family's Chinese internet investments and helped form business links with China for high-speed video and internet access.[18]
Jake and Joyce Cherry hosted Deng in their home during her studies in the United States. Later, Jake Cherry left his wife,[12] and married Deng in 1990.[34] While married to Cherry, Deng obtained agreen card.[12][34] They divorced after 2 years and 7 months of marriage.[35][12] Cherry later said that they stayed together for only four to five months when he learned that Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her age.[34]
In 1997, she met media mogulRupert Murdoch, who is 37 years her senior, while working as an executive at the Murdoch-ownedStar TV in Hong Kong.[6] They married in 1999[36] on board his yachtMorning Glory,[37] less than three weeks after the finalization of his divorce from his second wife,Anna Murdoch (née Torv).[35][38][39][40] The couple had two daughters: Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003).Tony Blair is Grace Murdoch's godfather.[41] In June 2013, Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng, citing irreconcilable differences.[35][42]
In February 2014,The Daily Telegraph andVanity Fair alleged that Deng might have had an affair with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.[45][39] An article inThe Economist claimed that as a result of Rupert Murdoch's suspicion that Blair had an affair with his wife, he ended his long-standing association with Blair in 2014.[46]
As of 2016[update], Deng was living inNew York City with her two daughters.[6] Grace attendsYale University (class of 2025), and Chloe studies atStanford (2026).[50][51][52] Grace and Chloe are due to inherit shares in their father's business interests, but they do not have voting rights. They are not involved in theSeptember 2024 court case in which their half-siblings are challenging their father about changing the terms of a family trust which was set up as part of the divorce settlement between Rupert and his second wife Anna.[53][54]
^Hillman, Sir William Arbuthnot and Charles."Murdoch family genealogy".Kittybrewster.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. RetrievedJune 8, 2020.
Song Jianglong (2018).谜一样的女人：邓文迪传 [Mysterious Woman: the Biography of Deng Wendi] (in Chinese). Beijing: China Business Publishing House.ISBN9787520802505.
"Spiked!". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. May 7, 2007. Archived fromthe original on May 10, 2007. RetrievedSeptember 5, 2010.
"Stain Removal". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. August 27, 2007. Archived fromthe original on September 24, 2007. RetrievedSeptember 5, 2010. (discusses theWikiScanner data in the editing of this Wikipedia article on Wendi )
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