Rupert Murdoch to wed Ann Lesley Smith

News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch is engaged to be married to Ann Lesley Smith, the New York Post reports.

Rupert Murdoch in New York last week. Picture: Jenna Bascom Photography

News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch is engaged to be married to Ann Lesley Smith, the New York Post reports.

Mr Murdoch, whose News Corp is publisher of The Australian, said he met Ms Smith, 66, at his California vineyard in 2022. “Last year when there was 200 people at my vineyard, I met her and we talked a bit. Two weeks later I called her,” he said.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” Mr Murdoch told the New York Post. “We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together.”

Ms Smith is a former San Francisco police chaplain and the widow of country singer and radio and TV executive Chester Smith. “I’m a widow 14 years. Like Rupert, my husband was a businessman. Worked for local papers, developed radio and TV stations and helped promote Univision. So I speak Rupert’s language. We share the same beliefs,” she said.

“In perspective, it’s not my first rodeo. Getting near 70 means being in the last half. I waited for the right time. Friends are happy for me,” Ms Smith said.

The wedding is expected to take place in the northern hemisphere summer.