Their finest hour: Wendi Deng (in pink) jumps to her feet as a protester throws a plate of foam at Rupert Murdoch during his evidence to a parliamentary select committee on the phone-hacking scandal. |
When Rupert Murdoch in 1998 announced his abrupt separation from Anna Murdoch, his wife of 31 years, almost nobody at the time, including Anna, had any idea, or could reasonably speculate, that Murdoch, then an old 67, might have a girlfriend. But he did. And his divorce and remarriage, and the effect it had on his children, social life and executives, would shape the next generation of his company – a romance for our time, as it were. With the curt, and blistering, announcement of his decision to file for divorce from Wendi Murdoch, the young woman he met when she was 28 and working for Star TV, his company in Hong Kong, another upheaval begins. It was two summers ago that Wendi burst into the news and transformed her public self from harridan to heroine by, with lightening fast reflexes, blocking a pie attack on her frail-looking husband in the midst of a difficult testimony in Britain before a committee of parliament investigating the hacking scandal. This was to many people in the wider Rupert-Wendi orbit an unexpected turnaround. The informed gossip, always pretty granular in detail, had put them on the outs for sometime. She hadn't even diverted from a promotional tour for a movie she'd produced – until the last minute – to be in London with her up-against-it husband. Murdoch had told his oldest son, Lachlan, that he'd concluded that marrying Wendi was a "mistake" – or so Lachlan, along with his siblings never a fan of his father's remarriage, was telling people. And during the many months that I was interviewing Murdoch in 2008 for my book about him, we would sometimes meet on weekend mornings at his apartment where it quite appeared he had not slept the night – but, rather, had arrived minutes before me with clothes bundled in his briefcase. Indeed, if you imagined two opposite people, save only for their evident mutual ambition, it might be Rupert and Wendi. Rupert, the cold, cryptic, scowling, impersonal, rock-hard conservative Australian aristocrat, with his four adult children unable to get over his marriage to the woman 39 years his junior. And Wendi, the energetic, ebullient, social creature, with natural liberal tendencies, whose first job in the US was at a Chinese restaurant and who had given him – "from the fridge", after his prostate cancer – two young Chinese children (and moved her parents to New York). And yet, something seemed to work, too. There was the orange hair die; the workout regimes; his protestations that he had finally learned how to be a good father; and his new friendship with, gasp, liberals. David Geffen, via Wendi, became one of Rupert's closest confidants. Certainly, business seemed to energize them. I often heard them, like teenagers in love, talking on the phone – albeit about business deals and, more than not, from different cities. I even saw them holding hands. But his children continued to dislike her. Even when they made every effort to tolerate her, it was with clenched teeth. And his mother, who died this past year, always refused to meet Wendi. For her part, Wendi remained ever-furious with him for not standing up to his children – which included locking their children out of full participation in the trust that controls all the Murdoch assets. She led a glamorous social life. In effect, she was the center of the jet set. It followed her: Hollywood, the art world, international super stars. She rejuvenated the jet set. Rumors about their relationship dogged them. When the LA Times threatened to go public with a supposed story of infidelity, News Corp had lawyers debrief both husband and wife and convinced the paper to kill its story. Robert Peston, the BBC's financial correspondent, who is said to be a close friend of Will Lewis, a key Murdoch lieutenant, tweeted that the real facts of the break-up are "jaw-dropping": Am also told that undisclosed reasons for Murdoch divorcing Deng are jaw-dropping - & hate myself for wanting to know what they are — Robert Peston (@Peston) June 13, 2013 We can only speculate about what he might mean. However, a year ago, she gave an interview to the New York Times suggesting that they were living independent lives. And Wendi's emails go through News Corp, so the company surely knows who she is talking to and what she is up to. And yet, during the past year, what people have most noticed is their closeness. She had seemed to become his key adviser, close enough that there has been speculation she would go on the board of the newspaper company being split from the larger entertainment company. She had also become, to his children's ever-greater consternation, his gatekeeper. Outsiders did not get to Rupert without going through Wendi. But now the split is dramatic. As harsh as the split from Anna. And in the fashion that Rupert does things – peremptorily, wrathfully, implacably – it would seem to leave Wendi far out in the cold. There is her 1999 pre-nup, and, to boot, two post-nups. What's more, it is a fearsome thing when News Corp and the Murdoch family close their ranks against you. Indeed, it is not that easy to hire a law firm not conflicted out by its work for News Corp, or the promise of work. Her PR aide, Steven Rubenstein, is on Rupert's payroll – so his help disappears. Except, of course, that Wendi knows all Murdoch's secrets. All of them. |
當(dāng)1998年魯伯特·默多克突然宣布與31歲的妻子安娜·默多克( Anna Murdoch)離婚時(shí),幾乎沒(méi)有人(包括安娜在內(nèi))會(huì)想到,或推斷出,那時(shí)已67歲高齡的默多克會(huì)交上一個(gè)女朋友。 但是他交到了。他的離婚、再婚,及其對(duì)他孩子、社交生活及高級(jí)主管的影響,都會(huì)塑造默多克公司的下一代——可以說(shuō)成是我們這個(gè)時(shí)代的羅曼史。 默多克草率快速地聲明向鄧文迪提出離婚申請(qǐng),當(dāng)時(shí)兩人相遇時(shí),鄧文迪年僅28歲,在默多克的香港公司星空衛(wèi)視工作。這一舉動(dòng)又激起千層浪。 兩年前的夏天,鄧文迪闖入人們的視野,將她的公共形象由老潑婦轉(zhuǎn)變成女中豪杰。當(dāng)時(shí),她文弱的丈夫正在英國(guó)為竊聽(tīng)丑聞案進(jìn)行艱難的作證,她以迅雷不及掩耳之勢(shì)阻止了一次蛋糕派的攻擊。 默多克曾告訴過(guò)他的長(zhǎng)子拉克倫(Lachlan),他認(rèn)為自己和鄧文迪的婚姻是個(gè)“錯(cuò)誤”——又或者是拉克倫是這樣告訴人們的,他和其他兄弟姐妹一樣從不喜歡父親再婚。2008年,我在采訪默多克的大多數(shù)時(shí)間里,那時(shí)我在寫(xiě)一本關(guān)于他的書(shū),我們有時(shí)會(huì)在周末的早晨在他的公寓里見(jiàn)面,他看上去明顯一夜沒(méi)睡——但是,他會(huì)比我早到幾分鐘,公文包里還塞著衣服。 實(shí)際上,你可以想象兩個(gè)完全相反的人,兩人相同的只有彼此共同的明顯野心,這兩個(gè)人就是魯伯特和鄧文迪。 魯伯特是一名冷淡、神秘、愁眉不展、不帶人情味、堅(jiān)硬如石的保守派澳大利亞貴族,他的四個(gè)孩子不可能會(huì)對(duì)他與比他小39歲妻子的婚姻釋?xiě)?。而鄧文迪積極、熱情、熱愛(ài)社交,她有著天生的自由傾向,她在美國(guó)的第一份工作是在一家中國(guó)餐館打工,她在他得了前列腺癌后,從“冰庫(kù)里”為他生了兩個(gè)中國(guó)小孩(并把她的父母帶到了紐約)。 可是,他們之間有些東西似乎也行得通。 他說(shuō)自己終于學(xué)會(huì)了如何做一個(gè)好父親;而他與自由主義派結(jié)下了新的友誼。通過(guò)鄧文迪,大衛(wèi)·格芬(David Geffen)成為了魯伯特最親密的知己之一。 當(dāng)然,生意似乎點(diǎn)燃了他們的熱情。我經(jīng)常聽(tīng)見(jiàn)他們像熱戀的青年人一樣打電話——雖然電話的內(nèi)容是關(guān)于生意,而且更多的時(shí)候,兩人身處不同的城市。我從未見(jiàn)過(guò)他們牽手。 但他的孩子一直不喜歡她。即使他們用盡了努力去容忍她,但也十分艱難。他去年去世的母親從未愿意見(jiàn)過(guò)鄧文迪。 另一方面,鄧文迪對(duì)魯伯特不敢與孩子們抗?fàn)幍男袨楹苁巧鷼狻蛔屗麄儏⑴c掌控默多克全部資產(chǎn)的信托基金。 她有著美妙迷人的社交生活。實(shí)際上,她是上流社會(huì)的中心。它們跟隨著她的腳步:好萊塢、藝術(shù)界、國(guó)際巨星。她為上流社會(huì)注入了活力。 關(guān)于他們關(guān)系的謠言尾隨而來(lái)。當(dāng)洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)(LA Times)威脅要將一則不忠的猜測(cè)消息公布于眾的時(shí)候,新聞集團(tuán)(News Corp)的律師盤問(wèn)了兩人,并勸說(shuō)洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)斃了這條消息。 英國(guó)廣播公司的金融記者羅伯特·派森(Robert Peston)據(jù)說(shuō)是默多克重要助理威爾?劉易斯(Will Lewis)的密友,他在推特上發(fā)帖說(shuō)到,二人離婚的真相讓人“瞠目結(jié)舌”: 我也被告知了,默多克和鄧文迪離婚的原因讓人瞠目結(jié)舌 - 我之前還等著想知道他們的本來(lái)面目,我真討厭自己 —羅伯特·派森(@ Peston)2013.06.13 我們只能猜測(cè)他的意思。但是,一年前,她在接受《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》(New York Times)的采訪時(shí)曾暗示二人各過(guò)各的生活。而鄧文迪的此番發(fā)言是新聞集團(tuán)經(jīng)手的,所以公司一定知道她在說(shuō)什么,也知道她想要干什么。 而去年,人們大部分注意到的是他們之間的親密。她似乎變成了他的主要顧問(wèn),他們之間很是親密,親密到有人猜測(cè)她會(huì)成為從默多克大娛樂(lè)公司分離出來(lái)的新聞公司董事會(huì)成員。 她也變成了他的看守人,這是他的孩子們最擔(dān)心恐懼的事。外人要想接近魯伯特必須先通過(guò)鄧文迪這一關(guān)。 但是現(xiàn)在的分手消息著實(shí)充滿了戲劇性。就像他和安娜分手時(shí)一樣的刺耳。 按照魯伯特做事的風(fēng)格來(lái)說(shuō)——獨(dú)斷、憤怒、執(zhí)拗——鄧文迪似乎頗受苦楚。她在1999年簽訂了婚前協(xié)議,婚后還有兩份。而且,新聞集團(tuán)和默多克家族把你踢出門外是件很可怕的事情。實(shí)際上,要雇請(qǐng)一家不和新聞集團(tuán)利益沾邊的法律事務(wù)所不是件易事。她的公關(guān)助理史蒂文·魯賓斯坦(Steven Rubenstein)是靠魯伯特發(fā)工資的,所以他是不會(huì)幫忙了。 當(dāng)然,只是鄧文迪知道默多克的所有秘密。所有。 相關(guān)閱讀 美國(guó)人的牢騷:與權(quán)力無(wú)關(guān) 中國(guó)環(huán)保部報(bào)告承認(rèn)本國(guó)環(huán)境問(wèn)題嚴(yán)峻 (翻譯:袁凌子 編輯:Julie) |