What’s worse than a split with 91-year-old media mogul and Fox News father Rupert Murdoch? A split with 91-year-old media mogul and Fox News father Rupert Murdoch via email†
It was reported last week that former model Jerry Hall had filed for divorce from Rupert Murdoch, citing “irreconcilable differences” after six years of marriage. But that’s not the end of the story.
In a story worthy of a Murdoch tabloid, Daily mail reported on Sunday that the billionaire may have ended business with Hall by text message. Then, anonymous “friends of Hall” later confirmed that he had ended the relationship via a “ruthless email” while Hall waited for her husband to join her in the UK.
If we have learned anything from Sex and the city (and there’s a lot to learn from that show), it’s that this is no way to end a relationship — although, as this Twitter gambler points out, that “post-it note” episode just might hit the spot may be where Murdoch got his inspiration from.
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For context, an iconic episode of the TV series revolves around Carrie Bradshaw’s writer-friend Jack Berger running amok at night, leaving Carrie with nothing but a post-it that reads “I’m sorry. I can not do it. Don’t hate me.” The benefit of the post-it breakup was that Bradshaw could later use the note to get under a fine for smoking weed — we can only hope Hall got as much or more out of her email. about the breakup.
Of course, in the long history of romantic splits, the media mogul isn’t the first to turn to the digital method of the day to make his feelings known. Here are some other people who ended their relationships in a very impersonal way.
Only the fax, Phil Collins
Award-winning singer, songwriter, and musician Phil Collins reportedly turned to the modern medium of fax in 1994 to inform his second wife, Jill Tavelman, that he no longer loved her and was demanding a divorce.
However, Collins has repeatedly denied rumors that he was asking for a divorce in this way – and he was forced to turn them down again in 2020 when his third wife, Orianne Cevey, reportedly broke up with him via text message in the middle of the year. COVID-19 shutdowns. ouch. I think he probably wished Cevey had lost his number.
Russell Brand’s appeal to text
Comedian and actor Russell Brand ended his 14-month marriage to singer Katy Perry via text message. Text message. In an interview, Perry said: “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him [Brand] since he texted me that he was divorcing me on December 31, 2011.” Happy New Year!
If you delve into the world of celebrity breakups, it turns out that splitting over text, social media, or a TV show is quite common. The Beatles’ Paul McCartney was dumped on live TV by English actor Jane Asher in 1968. Asher told Simon Dee, the presenter of the BBC chat show Dee Timethat her five years with McCartney had passed, saying, “I didn’t break it down, but it’s over.”
A transatlantic message
In the old days, the modern version of a text message or email was, of course, a letter. So much classier. And when loved ones were separated by sea or land with no phone line or internet to connect them, a letter was actually a pretty classy option for ending things.
Another transatlantic love affair—probably quite similar to Murdoch’s and Hall’s—between feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and Chicago writer Nelson Algren ended with a well-written letter from de Beauvoir, which contained these highly poetic lines: “I am better at dry sadness than with cold anger, for I remained until now with dry eyes, as dry as smoked fish, but my heart is a kind of dirty soft custard inside.”
Murdoch’s heart, we know for sure, is also some kind of dirty soft custard inside. I hope that got into the breakup email.
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