Issue 4.
The Real Succession: The wild life of Wendi Deng Murdoch & Shallow's Spring Vanity Corner product edit
The Real Succession: Wendi Deng Murdoch’s Masterclass to the Top
Rupert Murdoch and his family don’t just own the news, they are the news. And with the new series The Hack, Murdoch-mania is at fever pitch once again.
But one figure in this dynasty makes succession battles, politics, and lawsuits look like small talk at a parent-teacher cocktail party: Wendi Deng Murdoch.
Her rise is so improbable that even the most committed QAnon fanatic would have a hard time believing it. But the truth, as always, is stranger than fiction.
It’s almost criminal that Rupert’s third wife doesn’t have her own mini-series or at least a podcast. Instead, we’re stuck with Dancing with the Stars season 640 and influencer life hacks on Instagram.
Am I saying Wendi’s a shoo-in for a Sunday school teacher? No. But her hustle, ambition, and charisma? Absolutely fascinating.
Until the woman herself blesses us all with a life starter pack, consider this a masterclass in making your way to the top, no matter what, inspired by Wendi Deng Murdoch.
Lesson 1. Use the hours of 3am–6am wisely
“I grew up in a small town. No electricity every day, no telephone, no TV, no refrigerator, no hot water. It was a boring life. I never had a toy. Not one doll, anything. You didn’t know you were poor. It’s just the way it was.” Wendi Deng Murdoch.
Wendi’s story starts in a three-room apartment in Xuzhou, China, where she was born Deng Wen Di, the youngest of four children. Her father, an engineering factory manager, earned 300 yuan a month (about $60 AUD today) and the family lived in a three-room apartment.
Free time was spent doing chores, reading textbooks, and playing volleyball in exchange for food and clothing.
“My parents were tough, and I was never good enough.” she told Vogue.
Her nightly routine puts my evening scroll to shame: under Mao Zedong’s 1970s regime, lights went out in China at 7pm, so Wendi studied in the dark, slept three hours, and woke at 3am to teach herself English.
Honestly, a weekend at Silverwater Jail sounds more fun.
Lesson 2. Opportunities can be disguised as a 50-year-old man
“50-year-old men and teenage girls” is usually a sentence reserved for a ride on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane. But 1980s Guangzhou was a different time. At 16, Wendi wasn’t looking for romance; she was looking for a lifeline out of China.
Enter Jake Cherry: a 50-year-old married American father of two, who had moved to the town Wendi lived in to manage a factory. A local translator introduced them, asking Jake and his wife if they’d help a young local girl with her English. They said yes.
Lesson 3. Sharing a bunk bed is worth it for a visa (just)
The future Mrs Murdoch quickly developed a close relationship with Cherry and made it clear she wanted to study in America. He was eager to help (I wonder why..) and agreed to sponsor her application to California State University.
In 1988, Wendi moved to the U.S., settling straight into the Cherry family’s home, where she shared a bunk bed with their five-year-old daughter.
“I was willing to do anything,” she later told British Vogue.“I had never even been inside a supermarket before coming to America.”
She hustled: waitressing, selling cosmetics, babysitting. And then there was her other full-time job: an affair with Jake. His wife found explicit photos he’d taken of Wendi and promptly threw her out of the house.
“She had a goal and she got there. Surely she’s got enough?” — Joyce Hinton, wife of Jake Cherry, The Monthly.
Lesson 4. First marriages aren’t for love, right Wendi?
There was no way our Wendi was going to wait tables and sleep in a bunk bed to return to a life of no light after 7pm. She married Jake in February 1990, at 21; he was 53.
The couple split after just four months, when he discovered Wendi having an affair with a younger man. By then, she’d already secured her golden ticket: a U.S. Green Card.
“She told me I was a father concept to her, and it would never be anything else,” Cherry told The Wall Street Journal in 2000.
Lesson 5. A first-class ticket is always worth it
Celebrating her divorce with an Instagram name change and a pink cake marked DENG on a girls’ weekend was never going to be Wendi’s MO.
Instead, she marked her newly single status by earning a place at Yale to study an MBA, which required an internship.
Wendi landed a placement at Star TV in Hong Kong, then owned by Murdoch’s News Corporation. How she got the role has since become the stuff of legend—reportedly buying a first-class ticket from New York to Hong Kong as a student and ending up seated next to Star TV’s COO.
Lesson 6. Eyes on the prize. Always
“She will set her mind on something, and the way she’ll go after it is with a sledgehammer”
How Wendi met Rupert has a few different versions.
My favourite: Deng asked Murdoch at a 1997 STAR TV Town Hall why his company’s “business strategy in China was so bad,” prompting him to strike up a conversation with the newly-anointed business manager. The more likely version? Wendi stepped in as translator when Rupert visited Star’s offices in Hong Kong.
Rupert was still married to Anna Murdoch, wife of Lachlan, James, and Elisabeth, and no one suspected anything was amiss.
“When he met me, he felt he could start a new life he would enjoy,” Wendi told Chinese TV. “His marriage was in trouble. He wanted to be with me, and I said no”
“I started from China and worked hard to get a degree from a prestigious university. Now I have a good job. If the relationship fails, I lose everything.’”
“Don’t worry. I will marry you,” Rupert told her.
Lesson 7 . Wendi’s Way or the Highway
Rupert Murdoch married Wendi Deng in June 1999, just 17 days after his divorce from Anna was finalised.
She got to work overhauling Rupert’s looks, diets, renovating his homes, and playing a key role behind the scenes in his business decisions, but it wasn’t enough for our favourite hustler.
“I’m not going to be a stay-at-home society wife.”
An Olympic-standard networker, Wendi’s friend group soon read like a roll call of people you know would hate to shake the hand of anyone who wasn’t rich or famous. Ivanka Trump, Nicole Kidman, Diane von Furstenberg, Bono, Anna Wintour, and countless others.
She gave birth to two daughters, Grace in 2001 and Chloe in 2003.
“Look at my daughters! So beautiful and so rich,” she once told a friend. Words I would give my right lung to hear someone say about me.
Although the youngest Murdochs were more than financially secure — they were never going to be schlepping through one-bedroom apartment inspections — it didn’t sit well with Wendi that her children were excluded from voting rights in the 2006 creation of the Murdoch Family Trust.
Lesson 8. Delete sexual fantasy notes involving former Prime Ministers
For all her savviness, Wendi was clearly a slow learner when it came to the cardinal rule of never put anything in writing you don’t want seen.
Cue the 2013 discovery of a note Wendi allegedly wrote about an unlikely sexual pin-up, Tony Blair.
“Oh, shit, oh, shit. Whatever, why I’m so, so missing Tony. Because he is so, so charming and his clothes are so good. He has such a good body and really, really good legs.”
“Butt… and he is slim, tall, and good skin. Piercing blue eyes, which I love. Love his eyes. Also I love his power on the stage”.
Besides reading like a drunken DM or the diary entry of a teenage girl, Wendi’s note about the former British PM’s butt and “really, really good legs” was reportedly a catalyst for the end of her marriage to Rupert Murdoch. The couple divorced in 2013, and Wendi’s rumored other lovers since then have allegedly included Vladimir Putin, because, of course.
Lesson 9. Leave a legacy
In the 12 years since the Murdochs split, Wendi has continued her life of rare air with very normal divorcee hobbies: producing films with A-list connections, walking the red carpet at the Met Gala, introducing her ex-husband to his fifth wife, and slowly working her way back into the Murdoch family fold.
In early September, the nearly 20-year succession drama over the 2006 Murdoch Family Trust came to a head when Lachlan bought out his three siblings’ shares, securing his place as Rupert’s successor. Less widely known is that Wendi played a key role in ensuring Chloe and Grace became part of the new trust, finally giving them voting power, greater wealth, and a chance to carry on both their father’s legacy and most importantly their mother’s unmistakable hustle.
“In Shanghai, they say: ‘Absolute success story! No one like her; she is the only one. Wendi is outstanding, unusual.”
An edit of beautiful, unnecessary, probably overpriced things you don’t need… but will want.
Uni 24-Hour Body Serum
I tread carefully with expensive skincare because I know I’ll fall in love and end up paying a small mortgage every few months. This serum is worth it: divine scent, perfect absorption, reef-safe, and never greasy.
This top just screams ‘ I have my life together’. So versatile, and the colour reminds me of Kate Hudson’s Carolina Herrera dress from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I just need a good spray tan and my life together to wear it.
Kérastase Gloss Absolu Hydra-Glaze Shampoo
Hair that’s been through more transformations than Kris Jenner’s face? Sensitive, oily, or dull? This brings the gloss back, lathers beautifully, smells divine, and leaves hair soft and glassy.
Nutra Organics Collagen Hot Chocolate
Thank god not all cacao tastes like paper. I was after an evening treat that didn’t make me feel like Augustus Gloop, and this hits the spot: rich, soothing, and actually chocolate-y. Who knew!
A great ‘read’ Harriet, I loved getting the back story on Wendi Deng, you have to admire her determination. I’m loving Shallow 👌