Anyone else watching the Phone hacking testimony before Parliament in the UK? As I write this Wendi Murdoch (42 year old 3rd wife of the media mogul) is trending on the internet for spiking a cream pie back into the face of the attacker of her 80 year old husband. That heroic act is followed by the testimony of Rebekah Brooks, the former News Corp Chief executive who recently resigned with a 7 million dollar severance package. At the testimony we find out little, as to what she knew and when she knew it, aside from her obviously being out of the loop when it came to the knowledge of any illegal activities.
Brooks is referred to by some as Rupert Murdoch’s fifth daughter. One of the better articles on Brooks was written by The Independent. Here are some excerpts.
Rupert Murdoch has four daughters, but sometimes it seems like there are five. The one who looms largest in his life is not a Murdoch by birth, but a tough social climber from Cheshire who is easily recognizable by her long flame-red hair and is now grappling with the biggest crisis of her career. Rebekah Brooks has stayed close to the media mogul, once described as the Sun King by the journalist Andrew Neil, for a very long time without getting burned. Other products of the Murdoch stable have their day and are then discarded. But not even the shocking revelation now sending tremors through News International have driven a wedge between the proprietor and his favourite executive. At least, not yet.
Her testimony today will not cause any division. We found out little aside from the fact that she knows how to handle herself in a tight situation. Another excerpt from the Independent article, as to how she has handled herself in the past. She has been called “Feisty” by some.
She weathered one notable embarrassment during her time at The Sun, when she was arrested in November 2005 for apparently assaulting her then husband, the on-screen tough guy Ross Kemp, whom she had married in 2002.
To no surprise they were later divorced. When it comes to Brooks being close to power and her obvious influence of government it came out that she has met with Prime Minister David Cameron 26 times since he has taken office. However, rarely (if ever) at 10 Downing Street. It also came out that Rupert has visited Downing Street several times himself, but was asked to enter through the back door. The Murdoch Family apparently have all the political entrances and exits covered.
For more on Rupert himself Wikipedia has useful updated information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch
For more on Wendi (Deng) Murdoch here is a recent article which includes information concerning an earlier blog, which I had not known.
She's shied away from the spotlight as the scandal grew in recent weeks by spending her time attending premieres and parties for the film "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", which she co-produced and was released last Friday through Fox Searchlight.
