Murdoch files for divorce from third wife Wendi

New York, June 14: Media baron and News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is splitting from his third wife Wendi Deng. Murdoch filed for divorce in New York earlier in the day. He married Wendi Deng in 1999.

The relationship with Wendi, which was played on television during British Parilamentary hearings on phone hacking scandal two years ago, had been irretrievably broken for more than six months before he filed for divorce. This was disclosed by a spokesman for the News Corp chief executive today.

The Chinese-born, Yale-educated Deng was very accomplished in her own right pre-Murdoch, and her Yale profile notes she's a co-founder of Big Feet Productions, an independent studio in East London that makes applications and games for Apple operating systems according to its website. And in 2011, she produced, "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," a film set in 19th century China centered on two girls who circumvent cultural restrictions on females.

The divorce sets up a battle over how much of Murdoch's fortune, estimated at $11.2 billion, she and her children Grace and Chloe would get. Murdoch has four other children from his two previous marriages.

The 82-year-old Murdoch runs one of the most powerful media conglomerates in the world -- one that includes 20th Century Fox, Fox television (including Fox News and FX), Sky news service, HarperCollins publishing and many newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, Britain's Times and several publications in his native Australia.

Who is Wendi Deng?

She is a Chinese-born daughter of a factory engineer. She has spoken about growing up "very, very poor" in a small town in China.

She has a master's degree at the Yale School of Management and now sits on its Board of Advisors.

Her first marriage was brief and to the man who had sponsored her student visa to the United States in late 1980s.

Murdoch and Deng met at a Hong Kong cocktail party shortly after her graduation from Yale. Deng then went on to work at Star TV, Murdoch's Hong Kong-based satellite television service.

Murdoch had told about his side of the lover story. "I fell in love with her, and I asked her. She said no, and it took a long time to persuade her," Murdoch had said.

Their 1999 wedding occurred shortly after Murdoch filed for divorce from his second wife, Anna Torv Murdoch, after 22 years of marraige.

In July 2011 she was on world televison networks, seen sitting behind Murdoch in Parliament in London, while he testified about his company's involvement in a phone-hacking scandal. The scandal eventually lead to the demise of the Sun newspaper.

Her moment came when during one of the hearings, Comedian Jonnie Marbles came at Murdoch with a shaving-foam pie outside the Parliament building. Wendi Deng went into action and smashed his hand.

Her acrobatic display erupted on social media came to be known as "the slap heard round the world" and earned her the sobriquet "tiger wife." The reaction was particularly strong on Chinese microblogs, where many hailed Deng's reaction as a moment of pride for Asian women.

With agencies inputs