Divorce Threat: Rupert Murdoch Warned Jerry Hall From Giving 'Story Ideas' to 'Succession' Writers

After Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall split in 2022, part of the divorce settlement included that the model, 66, couldn't give story ideas to HBO Max's hit show Succession, which is focuses on Waystar Royco, a media conglomerate controlled by the Roy family.

Of course, the storyline sounds familiar to Murdoch's life, as he built a $17 million fortune after starting a small newspaper company he inherited from his father, a new report reveals.

Elsewhere in the article, a source claimed Rupert's son Lachlan was told that his other son James was leaking stories to the writers of Succession. (Murdoch previously said he wanted one of his three children from his second wife, Anna — Elisabeth, 54, Lachlan, 51, and James, 50 — to take over the company one day.)

Meanwhile, Lachlan moved back to Australia in March 2021 to get away from the family drama, while Elisabeth went through a divorce in 2014 and started her own television company.

Lachlan was "the golden child," the insider revealed, but Rupert was always worried his son was too laidback and didn't want the job badly enough. He also clashed with Fox News chief Roger Ailes and chief operating officer Peter Chernin.

“He pitted his kids against each other their entire lives. It’s sad,” a person close to the family said.

James was left as the leader, but his liberal stance concerned Rupert, and therefore, Lachlan agreed to return from Australia to be his father's heir.

“It was a big slap in the face,” a person close to James said.

Lachlan's future at the company will be decided by his siblings, who are on the board of trust. Rupert has four votes, while Elisabeth, Lachlan, James, and Prudence, who is Murdoch’s daughter from his first marriage, each have one. Rupert's daughters Chloe and Grace, whom he shares with Wendi Deng, have financial stake but will not be able to vote.

When Rupert dies, "his votes will be distributed equally among the four eldest children," the source said.

“The question is, when Rupert dies, how are the kids aligned?” a former News Corp executive asked.

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Vanity Fair reported on Murdoch and Hall's marriage.