Who is Elena Zhukova? Scientist Rumored To Be Dating Rupert Murdoch, 92

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is reported to have found love again—at the age of 92.

The mogul—who owns a vast, global media empire including newspapers, TV stations, and publishers—is said to be enjoying a vacation with scientist Elena Zhukova on board a yacht, according to news website the Drudge Report, which broke the exclusive story on its homepage.

Fox News owner Murdoch, who is worth $17.5 billion according to Forbes, has "got the energy of people half his age," a source told the Drudge Report, adding: "He just might be in love again."

The publication did not name the source, reveal any further details about Zhukova, such as her age, or state when or where the alleged couple had been seen together. Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the claims and reached out by email to Murdoch's representatives at News Corp for comment. A spokesperson replied: "We have no comment on this matter."

Mail Online, the sister website of British newspaper the Daily Mail, later published photos of the pair together and said Zhukova was a 66-year-old molecular biologist who was once the mother-in-law of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The billionaire, who once owned British soccer club Chelsea, was reportedly previously married to Zhukova's daughter Dasha. The publication said Murdoch and Zhukova had been introduced by the media magnate's third wife Wendi Deng. The alleged new couple have reportedly spent the past few weeks on a yacht close to Greece.

Online searches for Elena Zhukova reveal a scientist with that name contributed to articles in 2007 about cellular DNA synthesis, and insulin released from gastric G cells, according to the ResearchGate website, which tracks scientific contributions. More recently, a scientist named Elena S. Zhukova of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology has contributed to work on quantum spin liquids, according to AD Scientific Index's website.

Murdoch is a well-known figure on the international stage and millions of people around the world consume the content of his media companies, meaning he is often courted by politicians, while the hit TV show Succession is said to have been inspired by his life and family.

Murdoch, who was born in Australia and inherited his father's local paper in Adelaide in the 1950s, went on to launch his media empire with the purchase of several other newspapers at home and abroad, notably including British tabloid The Sun and broadsheet The Times. During the 1990s, he expanded his empire into Asia and the U.S., and now News Corp owns hundreds of companies across more than 50 countries with a net worth of billions.

Today, U.S. outlets owned by Murdoch include Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.

Murdoch has not been single for long, having split with 66-year-old fiancée Ann Lesley Smith, a former dental hygienist, model and radio host, in April. The couple had been due to marry this summer but called off the wedding after Smith reportedly struggled with the publicity surrounding their union. That relationship had followed Murdoch's six-year marriage to his fourth wife, model Jerry Hall, 67; they were divorced in August 2022 amid reports the magnate had emailed Hall informing her that he wanted to end their marriage.

The businessman has six children from previous marriages: daughter Prudence MacLeod, 65, with his first wife Patricia Booker; daughter Elisabeth, 54, and sons Lachlan, 51, and James, 50, with his second wife Anna Mann; and daughters Grace, 22, and Chloe, 20, with his third wife Wendi Deng, 54.

It is not known how much Hall received as part of the couple's divorce settlement, but Murdoch previously went through one of the most expensive divorces in history after his second wife Mann received an eye-watering $1.7billion according to CNBC—although that figure has been disputed by one of Murdoch's biographers, Michael Wolff.

Update 8/15/23, 10:53 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a comment from a News Corp. spokesperson and additional information reported about Zhukova in the British press.