American businessman Rupert Murdoch, 92, and dental hygienist Ann Lesley Smith, 66, have called off their two‑week‑old engagement. The couple, who described their whirlwind romance as “a gift from God,” became engaged in March after Murdoch proposed with an Asscher‑cut diamond solitaire ring on St. Patrick’s Day in New York City, as he recounted in an interview with his own publication, the New York Post. They had planned to marry by the summer.
According to the Daily Mail, the engagement ended barely a month later. Sources close to Smith say the decision was mutual: Smith could not cope with the intense publicity surrounding their relationship. “She just could not handle being in the public eye. She is very private,” the sources explained. “They sat down and talked yesterday (Monday) and agreed it was better for them to part. He accepts that he will always be in the public eye and there is nothing he can or would do to change that.”
Before this brief engagement, Murdoch had been married four times. He recently finalized his divorce from his fourth wife, American supermodel Jerry Hall, after six years of marriage.
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