Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife Anna de Peyster has died at her Florida home at the age of 81. 

De Peyster passed away from a long illness surrounded by family at her Palm Beach home on February 17, the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, two of her ex-husband’s publications, reported. 

The mother-of-three was with Murdoch, 94, while he was building his media empire, which includes The Post, WSJ, and Fox. 

The pair married in 1967 and divorced in 1999.  

De Peyster is the mother of New Corp’s heir, Lachlan, who was announced as head of the global company in 2023, as well as his siblings James and Elisabeth. 

The Scottish-born journalist met Murdoch in the final year of her four-year training program at the Daily Mail in Sydney. She was sent to interview him as the paper’s publisher.

The two later married after Rupert divorced his first wife Patricia Booker. 

De Peyster and Murdoch lived across the world, including in Australia, where their daughter was born, as well as, London, New York, and Los Angeles. 

Anna de Peyster married Rupert Murdoch in 1967 and they stayed together for more than 30 years 

Peyster died from a long illness on February 11 at her home in Palm Beach 

Just two years into their marriage in 1969, the family found themselves at the center a kidnapping plot while living in London. 

Kidnappers had planned to take de Peyster, but instead nabbed the wrong woman, killing Muriel McKay, the wife of one of Murdoch’s executives instead, WSJ reported. 

By the late 1970s, the couple and their children were living in New York. While there, de Peyster obtained a bachelor’s degree in English from Fordham University and a master’s in literature and mythology from New York University, WSJ said. 

She told the Chicago Tribune at the time that she used to attend classes ‘wearing my evening dress under my Burberry, with my diamonds in my pocket, so I could go out afterward’.

She also wrote books while her children were in school, as she had a goal to get published by the age of 40. 

The Glasgow-born writer, who spent much of her childhood in Australia, wrote three novels in her lifetime, including In Her Own Image and Family Business. 

De Peyster was also on the board for News Corp from 1990 to 1998. She filed for divorce shortly after her stint.

She and Murdoch were married for more than 30 years. Their divorce was finalized in 1999 and Murdoch has gone on to wed a further three times, most recently to current wife Elena Zhukova in 2024.

She is a mother of three, including to Murdoch’s heir Lachlan and his siblings Elisabeth and James 

She is also the mother of Lachlan Murdoch, who is the heir to News Corp 

After her divorce with Murdoch, she went on to marry Bill Mann, with whom she stayed with until his death in 2017. She then married Ashton de Peyster in 2019 

After their divorce, she would go on to become a well-known figure in Southampton, New York, and in Palm Beach, Florida. 

She remarried to Bill Mann, with whom she stayed with until his death in 2017. 

In 2019 she married for a third time to Ashton de Peyster and is survived by him and her three children. 

‘She was the most fabulous person and wife,’ her husband said, according to WSJ. 

De Peyster was also a philanthropist who raised millions of dollars for children’s causes, including during her time working at the Children’s Institution in the 1990s in Los Angeles, The Post reported. 

The institute help 5,000 abused children each year. 

She would go on to be the chair at the LA Children’s Hospital board of regents, and also served as chair of a hospital in Haiti. 

De Peyster stepped down from her role after being diagnosed with cancer.