- Rupert Murdoch broke off his marriage with Jerry Hall in an email, Vanity Fair reported.
- “We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do,” the billionaire reportedly wrote.
- Last year, news broke that Hall was “heartbroken” after Murdoch severed ties over email.
Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old media mogul whose sprawling portfolio includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, ended his marriage with Jerry Hall last year over email, according to a recent report from Vanity Fair.
The email break up was first reported last year, but Vanity Fair is the first to reveal some of the contents of the exchange.
“Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage,” the email said, according to Vanity Fair, which cited a screenshot of the exchange. “We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do…My New York lawyer will be contacting yours immediately.”
Spokespeople for Murdoch and Hall did not respond to a request for comment to Insider ahead of publication.
The supermodel was Murdoch’s fourth wife, and the couple was married for about six years before the media mogul cut ties with Hall.
The Mail+ reported in last July that Hall was “heartbroken” after Murdoch informed her their marriage was over.
Hall was waiting for Murdoch to join her in the UK for the summer when she received the email from Murdoch, per Vanity Fair. The note told her that they could only communicate via attorneys from then on, The Mail+ reported.
“I still love him. I am devastated,” Hall reportedly told a friend, per The Mail+.
Both publications said that Hall told friends at the time that she was surprised by the news. Vanity Fair reported that Hall told people that the two “never fought,” even though they didn’t always see eye-to-eye on political issues, including abortion, Donald Trump, and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vanity Fair said, citing sources close to the couple.
Unnamed sources told The Mail+ last year that the couple had experienced marital difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Hall assuming a “gatekeeping” role to protect her husband. The media outlet said that Hall believed his family perceived this as her trying to isolate her husband from them, adding that she blamed his children for “souring” the marriage.
The two were legally divorced about two months after Murdoch sent the email, Vanity Fair said. And a few months after that there were reports of Murdoch spending time with Ann Lesley Smith, a former conservative radio host. Smith and Murdoch announced they were engaged earlier this year, but called the wedding off two weeks later.
Read Vanity Fair’s full story on Rupert Murdoch on the publication’s website.