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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Rupert Murdoch relishes life after Wendi | Rupert Murdoch relishes life after Wendi |
| (2 months later) | |
| Some years ago, Rupert Murdoch became interested in my personal life as revenge for my book about him. He had me followed and my house staked out by photographers sitting for long periods in junky cars. | Some years ago, Rupert Murdoch became interested in my personal life as revenge for my book about him. He had me followed and my house staked out by photographers sitting for long periods in junky cars. |
| I am afraid my interest now in his personal life may be as lip-smacking as his apparently was in mine (Murdoch, a gossip-hound, often announced during our conversations that he had damaging pictures of this or that enemy). While I have yet to stake him out, I am as close to the gossip flow about his recent marriage break up as his photographers were to my door. Conveniently, almost all the gossipers call me to cross-check their gossip – I hardly have to leave my house. | I am afraid my interest now in his personal life may be as lip-smacking as his apparently was in mine (Murdoch, a gossip-hound, often announced during our conversations that he had damaging pictures of this or that enemy). While I have yet to stake him out, I am as close to the gossip flow about his recent marriage break up as his photographers were to my door. Conveniently, almost all the gossipers call me to cross-check their gossip – I hardly have to leave my house. |
| But let me be more circumspect than he was about me: I can only vouch here for the gossip, not the facts. On the other hand, all the gossip is coming directly from Murdoch's family and close business circle: it's their spin, the story they want told. | But let me be more circumspect than he was about me: I can only vouch here for the gossip, not the facts. On the other hand, all the gossip is coming directly from Murdoch's family and close business circle: it's their spin, the story they want told. |
| In part, this is tactical stuff, a concerted effort to get out in front of what might otherwise be a negative portrayal. (Murdoch is, of course, often portrayed negatively, but he still bleeds.) | In part, this is tactical stuff, a concerted effort to get out in front of what might otherwise be a negative portrayal. (Murdoch is, of course, often portrayed negatively, but he still bleeds.) |
| But it is also a story so juicy and so novelistic that even his closest associates and family can't resist it – they can hardly believe it themselves. They all want to be part of it and want you to know they have compelling views about it. | But it is also a story so juicy and so novelistic that even his closest associates and family can't resist it – they can hardly believe it themselves. They all want to be part of it and want you to know they have compelling views about it. |
| They feel obliged, too, as insiders, to militantly close ranks around him. In their telling, his wife Wendi is simply "a terrible person" – which, they whisper, everybody but Murdoch always knew: her social life is out of control. The partying has been non-stop. She spends money "as if there were no tomorrow". All discretion gone. | They feel obliged, too, as insiders, to militantly close ranks around him. In their telling, his wife Wendi is simply "a terrible person" – which, they whisper, everybody but Murdoch always knew: her social life is out of control. The partying has been non-stop. She spends money "as if there were no tomorrow". All discretion gone. |
| In this novelisation, then, she is Anna Karenina. | In this novelisation, then, she is Anna Karenina. |
| The rumor of her connection to Tony Blair, in sudden circulation after the divorce announcement, began with News Corp people promising: "It's a world leader." That exact phrase echoed from one ranking Murdoch official to another. Blair's office was obliged to issue a flat denial of the story. (Of note, the back-channel briefs all come from executives in the new newspaper company, which holds the name News Corp, rather than from the entertainment company, 21st Century Fox, which is trying to keep its distance from Murdoch taint and lore.) | The rumor of her connection to Tony Blair, in sudden circulation after the divorce announcement, began with News Corp people promising: "It's a world leader." That exact phrase echoed from one ranking Murdoch official to another. Blair's office was obliged to issue a flat denial of the story. (Of note, the back-channel briefs all come from executives in the new newspaper company, which holds the name News Corp, rather than from the entertainment company, 21st Century Fox, which is trying to keep its distance from Murdoch taint and lore.) |
| She was embarrassing him: that, too, is a repeated phrase. She talked openly and volubly about their marriage. That's another theme: Wendi was disloyal. Murdoch himself is said to have told his daughter Elisabeth: "She [Wendi] doesn't deserve to be my widow." | She was embarrassing him: that, too, is a repeated phrase. She talked openly and volubly about their marriage. That's another theme: Wendi was disloyal. Murdoch himself is said to have told his daughter Elisabeth: "She [Wendi] doesn't deserve to be my widow." |
| His people offer a PR interpretation. He could have stayed married to her. They could have easily occupied separate spheres in the Murdoch empire. In fact, that's what they have been doing: they have a lot of houses, after all. But that would leave her in a position to some day claim his legacy – to upstage him. | His people offer a PR interpretation. He could have stayed married to her. They could have easily occupied separate spheres in the Murdoch empire. In fact, that's what they have been doing: they have a lot of houses, after all. But that would leave her in a position to some day claim his legacy – to upstage him. |
| The pie incident – her reflexive dive between Murdoch and his would-be pie attacker during a parliamentary hearing in London two years ago – is now rendered with quite some rancor. Not only did Wendi claim the spotlight for herself, but she showed him to be needing her protection. In that moment, he aged before the world. | The pie incident – her reflexive dive between Murdoch and his would-be pie attacker during a parliamentary hearing in London two years ago – is now rendered with quite some rancor. Not only did Wendi claim the spotlight for herself, but she showed him to be needing her protection. In that moment, he aged before the world. |
| And yet, curiously, there is a different story, too – one coming from friends to whom Murdoch talks directly. This is a story not about legacy, or tying up loose ends, or the lion in winter. He is not Lear. | And yet, curiously, there is a different story, too – one coming from friends to whom Murdoch talks directly. This is a story not about legacy, or tying up loose ends, or the lion in winter. He is not Lear. |
| Instead, it is a story about a new beginning, and his belief that he has another 10 years. Indeed, now traveling with a retinue of health and body retainers, he has never felt better. In this telling, Rupert's outlook turned positive at the end of last year. | Instead, it is a story about a new beginning, and his belief that he has another 10 years. Indeed, now traveling with a retinue of health and body retainers, he has never felt better. In this telling, Rupert's outlook turned positive at the end of last year. |
| Since the announcement of his divorce, he has been reassuring people that things have happened in his life to make him happier than he's ever been. His new newspaper company among them, but also a set of new people coming with it. He can't believe his good fortune. | Since the announcement of his divorce, he has been reassuring people that things have happened in his life to make him happier than he's ever been. His new newspaper company among them, but also a set of new people coming with it. He can't believe his good fortune. |
| He has the opportunity to do it all again is what he has said publicly. That is echoed privately, too. It's a new world. | He has the opportunity to do it all again is what he has said publicly. That is echoed privately, too. It's a new world. |
| "This is not about Wendi," cautioned a gossip who has been speaking to an exuberant and unrestrained Murdoch. (And the recent release of a secret tape with Murdoch contradicting almost all his public apologies related to the charges of corruption at his London newspaper is the unfiltered Murdoch I know – the man really can't keep his mouth shut). | "This is not about Wendi," cautioned a gossip who has been speaking to an exuberant and unrestrained Murdoch. (And the recent release of a secret tape with Murdoch contradicting almost all his public apologies related to the charges of corruption at his London newspaper is the unfiltered Murdoch I know – the man really can't keep his mouth shut). |
| In a way, the view of Wendi as she-devil is what his children and close circle would prefer it to be – a poor-old-fool tale. The latter view, which promises all sorts of new complications for the people around him, is what he wants it to be: everything in front of him still. | In a way, the view of Wendi as she-devil is what his children and close circle would prefer it to be – a poor-old-fool tale. The latter view, which promises all sorts of new complications for the people around him, is what he wants it to be: everything in front of him still. |
| He's on his boat now, and is, I am told, happy. Over the moon. | He's on his boat now, and is, I am told, happy. Over the moon. |
| So far, his estranged wife's camp remains mute. | So far, his estranged wife's camp remains mute. |
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