How Dare You Pie My Husband? The Story of Rupert and Wendi.

Wendi, the Heroine

If Rupert Murdoch was the villain in Parliament’s three-hour hearing on Britain’s phone-hacking scandal, then Wendi Deng Murdoch was its hero. As a pie thrower approached her husband, the media mogul’s 42-year-old wife leapt to her feet and slapped him away with startling intensity. Wrote James Kirkup in his first-person account in the Telegraph: “She followed up by picking up the plate and trying to strike him with it. And then she moved back to her husband. Sitting on the table before him, she started to clear the foam from his face, sometimes embracing him, holding his bald head in her arms.” Here is a look at the couple’s 13 years together.

Photograph by Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images.
Interpreter Turned Wife

In 1998, the 30-year-old Deng first starting appearing by Murdoch’s side, traveling with him as his interpreter. (She speaks Chinese.) Not long after, according to a lengthy feature about their relationship published in the Wall Street Journal in 2000, the promising junior executive at Star TV was spotted holding hands with her married boss. About a year after these public sightings, he divorced his wife and they married. Here they are pictured on Nov. 7, 1999, soon after the wedding.

Photograph by Mark Dadswell/Allsport via Getty Images.
Avoiding a Conflict of Interest

Murdoch was quick to tell friends that his feelings for Wendi, 37 years his junior, were serious, according to the 2000 Wall Street Journal feature. When Star TV’s top bosses expressed concern about whether Deng should continue to work for the company given her relationship with Murdoch, he told them not to worry because she was resigning and moving to New York with him. Here, the newlyweds are seen at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia in 1999.

Photograph by Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images.
Connected Friends

Murdoch and Deng have many friends, both in Hollywood and politics. Here, the couple arrives at St. Patrick's College for the wedding of musician Keith Urban and actress Nicole Kidman on June 25, 2006, in Sydney, Australia.

Photograph by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for 20^{CREDIT: th} Century Fox.
Red Carpets

Here, Deng and Murdoch attend the premiere of Australia in New York City on Nov. 24, 2008.

Photograph by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images.
Galas

Murdoch and Deng arrive at Time’s 100 Most Influential People Gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall on May 8, 2008, in New York City.

Photograph by Ian Gavan/Getty Images.
More Red Carpets and Galas

Deng has a full social calendar, appearing on the red carpet at the White House state dinner for China and the Oscars. Here the couple attends the Tree of Life premiere during the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2011.

Photograph by Ian Gavan/Getty Images.
Helping an Older Man Look Young

Soon after Murdoch married Deng, people observed that he started dressing differently. Over the years she’s been credited with controlling his aesthetic. Perhaps she is responsible for these new glasses?

Photograph by Getty Images.
Wendi the Athlete

The 6-foot-tall Deng is a long-time athlete. "She had many talents—basketball, badminton, volleyball," teacher Zhang Shan Li told a reporter forthe Australian magazine Good Weekend. (The profile never ran, reportedly because of pressure from Murdoch.) Here, the couple attends the NBA All-Star Game at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 20, 2011.

Photograph by Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images.
Does This Man Look Like He Just Killed a Paper?

A day after Murdoch announced that News of the World would be shuttered, he appeared smiling with his wife in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images.
A Three-Second Image Makeover

Press about Deng has often been far from favorable, but she is winning praise for her quick reflexes at today’s hearing. Within an hour of her pie slap, she was a global trending topic with a “Wendi Deng (Mrs Murdoch) Fan Club” Facebook page. Here are some comments from around the Web:

@katiecouric Wow wendy murdoch giving whole new meaning to the term tiger mother...insanity!

She was like lightening, making a mockery of Rupert's son's delayed reaction. (From Yahoo article titled "Wendi’s left hook can’t save Murdoch’s face")

@switchflicker Wendi Murdoch should be put in charge of the policing of the 2012 Olympics.

@derekblasberg Wendi Murdoch... New UFC champion!!!

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