Rupert Murdoch Divorces Wendi Deng

Proving no matter what Sharon Waxman thinks, she’s still got it, Nikki Finke got the ultimate scoop today: news that News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from his wife of 13 years early Thursday morning. The couple have two children.

You’ll remember Wendi most as the woman who prevented her husband, who is 38 years older than her, from being pied in the face while testifying during the News International hacking scandal of 2011. Before her international infamy, Deng, who is originally from China, met Murdoch while working for his company, and was the subject of an unflattering Wall Street Journal which described her breaking up both Murdoch’s previous marriage and the marriage of her first husband. She also got some great publicity when Gawker published an exposé into the way she treated her former nanny (a brief recap: not well). The New York Times‘ Amy Chozick reports that Deng “has been informed” that she is getting divorced, language that makes it seem as though she could be surprised by this news. Finke’s insider source confirms this, saying “The divorce happened very quickly.”

Interestingly, upon Murdoch’s death, Deng’s children with Murdoch will not have voting rights concerning the future of News Corp, which are isolated to his four children with his two previous wives. They will, however, have “an equal economic stake.” Additionally:

“The divorce will not impact Rupert Murdoch’s mega-media holdings, according to insiders, and was deliberately announced for maximum transparency before New Corp spins off its publishing assets into a separately traded company by June 28th. (Murdoch will control both of these entities.)”

Thank heavens! Fox News is saved.

News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch Files For Divorce Which Won’t Effect News Corp Split [Deadline]