RUPERT MURDOCH's former wife Wendi Deng had such a crush on Tony Blair that she wrote a passionate note saying: "Oh, shit, oh, shit. Whatever why I’m so so missing Tony. Because he is so so charming and his clothes are so good. He has such good body and he has really really good legs Butt . . . And he is slim tall and good skin. Pierce blue eyes which I love. Love his eyes. Also I love his power on the stage . . . and what else and what else and what else . . . ”
The note has been published online by Vanity Fair as a teaser for a lengthy article in the magazine's March issue.
A joint statement from Wendi and Rupert Murdoch says: “Given the complicated dynamics of our family, we made the decision early on in this process not to engage in public allegations or respond to negative claims.”
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Tony Blair has yet to respond – and may not feel it necessary to do so. What becomes clear from the Vanity Fair report is that while Wendi Deng made her feelings for him pretty obvious, according to eyewitnesses, they were not necessarily reciprocated.
"One day Mr Blair arrived and Mrs Murdoch was sort of being very flirtatious," someone who has worked in one of Murdoch's homes told Vanity Fair. "She was charming him. He asked the staff, ‘When is Mr. Murdoch going to arrive?’ And when he was told, ‘Tomorrow night,’ Mr Blair rolled his eyes and gave a panicked look.”
Blair is said to have spent time alone with Wendi Deng at the Murdochs' cattle ranch in Carmel, California on two separate weekends in 2012 and 2013.
According to Vanity Fair, Wendi Deng's passionate note "surfaced amid the flotsam of a shipwrecked marriage". If the Murdochs' divorce had been contested, it might have surfaced in court testimony. As it was, the couple chose to avoid a public showdown and chose a relatively straightforward settlement to finalise their 14-year marriage .
Wendi Deng's supposed infatuation with Tony Blair came to light when Murdoch’s staff "slowly began to keep tabs on Wendi", according to a Vanity Fair source. "Last summer… Murdoch told friends he met with staff members individually and asked them to tell him the truth. They gave him detailed accounts of his wife’s meetings with Blair."
Blair, who is godfather to Wendi and Rupert's elder daughter Grace, issued a statement at the time of the Murdochs' divorce last summer year in which he insisted he had never had an affair with Wendi Deng. Friends have confirmed that they were just friends and - as Vanity Fair puts it - some say "the handsome statesman was merely comforting the lonely wife of an absent and distant older husband".
