Succession meets real life: Vanity Fair’s inside scoop on Rupert Murdoch

This story is about an ageing conservative media mogul whose refusal to hand over the reins has splintered his family and triggered an all-encompassing battle for power. Sound familiar?

But this is not a story about Succession, HBO’s acclaimed drama series, well, not really. It’s about one of the real-world inspirations for the show.

Fresh off the back of his abandoned engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, Rupert Murdoch is the subject of a revealing story in the latest issue of Vanity Fair.

A new story by Vanity Fair reveals hidden truths about the media mogul, his warring family, and how similar they are to that TV show.Credit: Vanity Fair

Written by journalist Gabriel Sherman (author of Roger Ailes’ biography The Loudest Voice in the Room), it paints a curious picture of the highly private 92-year-old conservative media baron.

Reportedly having spoken with those close to Murdoch and individuals within his organisation, Sherman uncovers the recent feuds that have eroded the empire, the similarities between Succession and the family that inspired it, and what Rupert really thinks of Donald Trump.

Here are the most intriguing, and occassionally bizarre, things we learned from the story.

The real-life Succession plan

For four seasons of Succession, we’ve watched Logan Roy (Brian Cox) use his children as pawns in a chess game, unconvinced that any could be heir to the throne. When it comes to Murdoch, he too is crippled by indecision when picking a successor.

Rupert Murdoch and then wife Anna Murdoch with their children Lachlan, James and Elisabeth in New York City in 1989.

“He pitted his kids against each other their entire lives. It’s sad,” a person close to the family reportedly told Vanity Fair.

It’s reported that while Elisabeth, the eldest child from his relationship with former wife Anna, is the sharpest, she is a woman and “Murdoch subscribed to old-fashioned primogeniture”. Shout out to Shiv. Then there’s the oldest child, Prudence, who largely stays out of the family business. Shout out to Connor.

Meanwhile, Lachlan was the golden child, but Murdoch didn’t believe he had the drive to succeed. That left James, the youngest of the three but the most ideologically opposed. Despite their differences, James vowed to take control, climbing the ladder until Murdoch managed to lure Lachlan back from Australia in 2015. “It was a big slap in the face,” a person close to James said, according to Vanity Fair.

Sibling rivalry? The Roys don’t even come close.

Apparently, the split between the Murdoch brothers, James and Lachlan, is so bad that they no longer speak. At least Roman and Kendall can still make fun of each other. The source of the tension, according to the Vanity Fair article, is the right-wing rhetoric of Fox News and the general direction the network has taken over the last 10 years.

Rupert Murdoch with sons Lachlan and James. Credit: Bloomberg

But with Murdoch entering his twilight years, attention has turned to who will take over when he dies. Lachlan seems the heir apparent, but James would love to gain control.

“James is a lone wolf,” a former News Corp executive said. Meanwhile, Elisabeth wants to make amends. “She’s terrified of Rupert dying mad at her,” the source said.

If last week’s Succession taught us anything, you never know when your number is up.

Rupert Murdoch is a romantic. Oh, and he loves Hamilton

The story also digs deep into how the Fox News executive wooed his fourth wife, 1970s fashion icon Jerry Hall. After a few old-fashioned phone calls, the pair went on a date in New York.

When Hall arrived, her hotel room was filled with flowers and chocolates. “He was an old-fashioned gentleman. We laughed together nonstop,” she told friends. A couple of nights later, Murdoch took her to see Hamilton.

Talk about wanting to be in the room where it happened.

On Trump: “Rupert knew he was an idiot.”

For a hot minute, Fox News and Donald Trump were desperately co-dependent, two sides of the same profoundly conservative coin. But according to Vanity Fair, Trump was the last person Murdoch wanted to hitch his wagon to. “Rupert knew he was an idiot,” a person close to Murdoch said.

Trump offers Jerry Hall a job.

One of the prominent bones of contention for Murdoch in recent years was that Hall despised Trump. Sherman recalls an incident shortly after the 2016 election where Hall asked Trump to reroute the Dakota Access Pipeline away from Native American reservations protesting the project. In typical Trump style, he responded by “asking if she wanted to serve in his administration as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

Disney buying Fox is basically GoJo buying Waystar

Succession fans will love this one. Turns out Disney’s $71.3 billion purchase of the film and TV assets held by 21st Century Fox in 2019 was super similar to Lukas Matsson’s attempts to swallow up Waystar Royco.

Disney gets the deal done. Bob Iger with Rupert Murdoch.

The details of the deal go something like this: Murdoch hosted Disney CEO Bob Iger for lunch at his vineyard (where else?) and during that meal Iger floated that Disney would be interested in buying 21st Century Fox. Like Logan Roy, Murdoch was mad, not just mad, outraged!

Vanity Fair said, “Murdoch was a pirate who conquered media companies, not dispensed with them.” However, in the streaming age, legacy media can’t compete with fast-moving tech giants, so selling out to Disney seemed the best move.

Sherman writes: “The logic of selling 21st Century Fox to Disney made a lot of sense, plus, Murdoch would get to keep Fox News and his beloved newspapers.”

Logan and ATN, anyone?

Jerry Hall’s Succession gag order

It has long been rumoured that members of the Murdoch family leak storylines to the writers of Succession, and if this little nugget regarding Hall’s divorce from Murdoch is anything to go by, the rumours must be true.

According to Vanity Fair: “One of the terms of the settlement was that Hall couldn’t give story ideas to the writers on Succession.”

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall at their wedding in London in 2016. Following their divorce Murdoch ensured his ex-wife wouldn’t disclose details of their life to the writers of HBO show Succession.Credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga

One Murdoch wants to burn Fox News to the ground

Much like in Succession, the diminishing power of the family patriarch has shifted all eyes to what comes next. Sherman states, “Two people close to James told me he is biding his time until he and his sisters can wrest control from Lachlan after Rupert is gone.”

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.