An extensive piece in Vanity Fair about Rupert Murdoch, his children and his last marriage, it was revealed that the News Corp. kingpin is obsessed with the HBO show "Succession."
This past Sunday on the show, the head of the family's news empire, Logan Roy, ultimately died, leading the show into what it's truly named for: his succession.
In real life, however, the Murdoch family reportedly uses the show against each other. Lachlan is seen as the heir of the sovereign land News Corp, but that's not without complications. Lachlan clashed with Roger Ailes and chief operating officer Peter Chernin while working at the News Corp. to such a degree that he simply abandoned them all for a life of rock climbing. He simply "did not want the top job badly enough."
Meanwhile, James Murdoch, who has gathered immense experience and relationships around television and media, is a liberal. Thus, he was out.
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“It was a big slap in the face,” a person close to James told reporter Gabriel Sherman.
It wasn't enough for Lachlan, however.
"One source said Rupert got word to James that it would mean a lot if James attended his 90th birthday party, but James didn’t go," Sherman wrote. "According to another source, Lachlan told Rupert that James was leaking stories to the writers of Succession."
Lachlan denies it, however. Meanwhile, James and his wife Kathryn believed that there were operatives digging up dirt on them for Lachlan and Rupert.
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The obsession with the show was apparently deeper as Rupert detonated his fourth marriage with an alleged affair, breaking up with his wife Jerry Hall over text message.
The report explained, "Hall and Murdoch finalized their divorce two months later. One of the terms of the settlement was that Hall couldn’t give story ideas to the writers on Succession."
But the obsession goes both ways. According to a New York Times report from March, the cast of "Succession" party discussed Murdoch's then-engagement to his fifth possible wife during a party to celebrate Season 4.
Actor Arian Moayed, who plays Stewy in the show, said he thinks the marriage is really just about a necessary distraction.
“This sounds awful, but I don’t know if he’s doing it for love. I think it’s a cool little distraction from everything that’s happening over there," he said. The things "happening" refers to the $1.6 billion lawsuit from Dominion and another hefty $2.7 billion suit from Smartmatic.
That story ran March 21. By April 4, the engagement was called off.
Read the extensive details about the Murdochs at Vanity Fair.
