Will marriage to Murdoch now mean Jerry has to quit Jagger’s £13m mansion?
LIKE any bride-to-be, Jerry Hall undoubtedly has plenty on her to-do list.
And one of her first tasks could be calling in the removal men to the mansion that has been home for two decades.
The former model may have to move out of the 26-room Downe House in Richmond – precisely because of her engagement to Rupert Murdoch.
The glamorous Texan, 59, and 84-year- old media mogul revealed their plans to marry yesterday, after a whirlwind four-month romance.
However the union could force Miss Hall out of the £13million South-West London home, under the terms of an agreement reached with her former partner Sir Mick Jagger, 72.
The couple, who have four children together but were never legally married, split after 23 years in 1999. Sir Mick agreed to let her stay on in Downe House, where they had lived together – but it remained a mutual asset. And according to sources close to the initial separation deal, Miss Hall is only allowed to remain there until she is 65, or until she marries or cohabits.
Her marriage to Australian-born Mr Murdoch might therefore mean she has to move out earlier than anticipated. But she is unlikely to be left without a roof over her head, as Mr Murdoch leads an £ 8billion media empire.
Fittingly, their engagement was announced in The Times – one of Mr Murdoch’s News Corp newspapers. Sources said he proposed over the weekend in Los Angeles, where they attended the Golden Globe awards, but Miss Hall wasn’t seen to be wearing a ring.
She then flew back to the UK yesterday, and kept her left hand hidden from view as she pushed her trolley through Heathrow Airport.
However a spokesman for the Murdoch family said: ‘They have loved these past months together, are thrilled to be getting married and are excited about their future.’ A friend of the couple added: ‘They’re lovely together. She’s incredibly sweet to him, and he’s clearly smitten.’
Meanwhile Dame Joan Collins said that Miss Hall was ‘radiant’ over her engagement. Congratulating the pair on Twitter, the actress wrote: ‘I knew last month that a big event would be happening, you had a glow.’
Piers Morgan, who used to work for Mr Murdoch, described him as an ‘ incurable, hopeless romantic’, and a very ‘charismatic man’.
It is unclear whether Miss Hall will move back to her native America, where Mr Murdoch is now based, or whether the pair will divide their time between countries.
Since walking away from her split from Sir Mick with an estimated £10million, Miss Hall has also kept her coffers topped up with a series of lucrative contracts – including appearing on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, which netted her £55,000.
She also famously appeared naked on stage as Mrs Robinson in The Graduate shortly after breaking up from the rock star.
In 2009, she signed a £500,000 deal with Mr Murdoch’s publishing company, HarperCollins, to write a tellall autobiography. However she later had a change of heart and handed the money back.
Mr Murdoch has been married three times – most recently to Wendi Deng, a Chinese businesswoman 37 years his junior and mother to two of his children.
His second wife was journalist Anna Murdoch Mann, with whom he had three children, while his first was exflight attendant Patricia Booker, with whom he had a daughter.
Miss Hall’s previous partners include singer Bryan Ferry and film producer George Waud.
‘He is a hopeless
romantic’