Tiger wife. Power vegan. Volleyball champ. The spouse of media mogul Rupert Murdoch is no pushover.
Murdoch's 42-year-old wife, Wendi Deng, who had been sitting right behind her husband during an inquisition with the House of Commons Select Committee on Tuesday, leaped forward to smack a protester from smashing a pie into her husband's face.
The protester, covered in white foam, was hauled away and the session was suspended.
No sooner had Deng straightened her pink couture jacket and polka dot pencil skirt, Twitter messages buzzed worldwide, ranging from “Go Wendi” to “Wendi Deng. Tiger Wife!”
The chairman of the parliamentary committee even commented on her defense skill: "Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook," The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, had spent the day repeatedly telling British lawmakers that they were not responsible for a phone hacking scandal that has rocked the Murdoch empire.
Details emerged of the woman behind the power hit.
- Deng was born in Shandong, China, in 1968 to engineer parents. She was named Wen Ge, which is shorthand for "Cultural Revolution."
- She played volleyball in China.
- She married Jake Cherry, who along with his first wife had sponsored her student visa in 1988,
- She studied at Cal State before earning an MBA from Yale University.
- She worked in Hong Kong at Star Television, which is owned by Murdoch's News Corp
- Deng met Murdoch at a News Corp. party in Hong Kong in 1997. They married in 1999, weeks after his former marriage was dissolved.
- News Corp. paid Deng $92,000 in 2010 for "strategic advice" on MySpace's expansion into China, according to the Insider.
- Deng is Murdoch's third wife, and they live in Manhattan. They have two daughters, Grace and Chloe.
- She is co-founder and co-CEO of the film production company Big Feet Productions.
- She produced the film “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” which opened last week. At a weekend showing at the Southampton UA theater that Deng hosted, guests included Barbara Walters, Rudy Giuliani and designer Tori Burch.