Wendi Deng dumping Murdoch for Putin, say China's netizens
Staff Reporter 2013-06-15 16:11
Wendi Deng, dubbed "the female James Bond." (Photo/CNS)
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's soon-to-be-ex-wife Wendi Deng has become a hot topic among China's internet users, with many hailing the 44-year-old deng, born in eastern China's Shandong province, as a living legend and the greatest mistress of all time. Some joked that Deng has set her sights on President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who recently announced his separation from his wife of almost 30 years.
A spokesman for former British prime minister Tony Blair has also denied rumors of an affair with Deng — an irony given that Blair's Labour government with its obsession with media spin was often said to be "in bed with Murdoch."
Murdoch announced the end of his 14-year marriage to Deng, his third wife, when he filed for divorce at the New York State Supreme Court on Thursday. Deng and the 82-year-old businessman, 38 years her senior, got married in 1999 and they have two daughters together, Grace and Chloe. Murdoch's office said their marriage has been "irretrievably broken down" since about six months ago. The divorce was filed two days before Murdoch's News Corp announced its plan to divide its operations into two from June 28.
A Chinese internet user going by the name Zhang Sanjiang said Deng should be called "the richest woman in China." She gained the help of an American couple to go to the United States when she was 19 years old. The husband of the couple divorced his wife for Deng three years later. Deng married the 53-year-old man and then sought a divorce after she got her green card. She became Murdoch's interpreter aged 30 and made married the media tycoon mere weeks after he divorced his second wife of 31 years the following year.
Luo Yu from Chongqing said Deng is no ordinary person and should be called the female James Bond. Luo summed up Deng's strategy thus: She snuck into a first-class suite in order to get close to Murdoch and splashed wine onto him to get his attention. She made him leave his second wife to marry her. Then she got the right to inherit Murdoch's wealth by giving birth to his children using Murdoch's frozen sperm, Luo said.
Media reports speculate that Deng may receive over US$1 billion as a divorce settlement, as Murdoch paid US$1.7 billion when he divorced his second wife Anna Maria Torv in 1999.
Chinese internet users also said Wendi Dung is leaving Murdoch because she heard Putin is getting a divorce. An architect working in Beijing going by the name Han Shi Chiu Ming pointed out "Putin is just single again and Deng is getting divorces. Sounds like Murdoch can not stop Wendi from dedicating herself to Sino-Russia relations."
Media and internet users around the world have been speculating as to the cause of the break-up. Some suggested Deng might not have been happy with the fact that her two daughters with Murdoch do not have voting rights at News Corp like Murdoch's four other children by his two previous wives.
Deng is also alleged to have been having an affair with MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, who is two years older than Deng and has a personal net worth of US$500 million.
Tony Blair, a friend of both Murdoch and Deng and the godfather of their daughters, has also become caught up in rumors of an affair with Deng. An anonymous spokesman from his London office used the present tense to deny the former prime minister is having affair with Deng. "If you are asking if they are having an affair, the answer is no," the spokesperson said. This remark just made the divorce coverage even juicier, the USA Today noted.
Other hard-nosed and at the same time perversely romantic commentators said that the two are divorcing for love, as a prenuptial agreement between the couple allegedly prevents Deng from inheriting a single dime of Murdoch's US$11.2 billion personal assets if he dies while they are still married.
