Anna Murdoch-Mann, the former wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and a significant figure in the Murdoch family empire for over three decades, has died at age 81.
The ABC reports that Murdoch-Mann passed away, though details of her death have not been publicly released. She was married to Rupert Murdoch from 1967 to 1999, a period that saw the Murdoch media empire expand from Australian newspapers to a global conglomerate spanning three continents.
Mate, Anna Murdoch-Mann was there for the whole transformation - when the Murdochs went from Adelaide newspaper proprietors to global media players. And she paid a personal price for it.
Inside the Murdoch machine
Anna Murdoch, née Torv, was a Scottish-born journalist who met Rupert when she was working for one of his Sydney newspapers. They married in 1967, and she became an integral part of the Murdoch operation - not just as a wife, but as an advisor and sounding board during the empire's most aggressive expansion.
She stood by Rupert through the acquisition of the News of the World and The Sun in Britain, the US expansion including The New York Post and Fox, and countless other deals. She also raised their three children - Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James - who would all go on to play roles in the family business.
But the marriage ended in 1999, reportedly after Rupert began a relationship with Wendi Deng, whom he married just 17 days after his divorce from Anna was finalized.
Life after Rupert
The divorce settlement was reportedly worth $1.7 billion, making it one of the most expensive in history at the time. Anna later married financier William Mann and largely withdrew from public life.
But she occasionally gave interviews that offered rare insights into the Murdoch world. She spoke about the personal cost of being married to someone whose business was all-consuming, and about raising children in the pressure-cooker of a global media dynasty.
She was also a novelist, publishing several romance novels under her own name. It was a creative outlet separate from the Murdoch machine - something entirely hers.
The Australian angle
For Australians, the Murdoch name carries particular weight. Rupert's media holdings dominate Australian news, wielding enormous political influence. Anna was there during the formation of that empire, when Australian newspapers were the foundation for global ambitions.
Her children - particularly Lachlan, who now runs much of the empire - are continuing that legacy. The succession battle within the Murdoch family is one of the biggest media stories globally, with implications for journalism and politics worldwide.
Anna Murdoch-Mann lived through the creation of a media empire that reshaped global politics. She raised the next generation of Murdochs who now control it. And she walked away from it, building a life on her own terms.
Mate, that's a hell of a life. And her death marks the passing of someone who saw the Murdoch empire from the inside during its most transformative years.
