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Jerry should never have taken a penny of Rupert’s £15 billion

BACK in June, on learning Jerry Hall’s magical marriage to Rupert Murdoch was ending after just six years, I wrote that the last thing we fans wanted to learn of our golden girl was that, in the end, she took the money.

I dared to hope that this fiercely independent, talented woman would set a standard. Wealthy already, she would not take a penny of Rupert’s £15 billion fortune.

How wrong I was. As details gradually emerge of the couple’s oh- sospeedy divorce settlement, it appears Jerry will instead enjoy a payday of somewhere between £50 million and £250 million, depending on who you believe, from her nonagenarian ex, including their £11 million Henley mansion and a St Tropez pad.

Not bad for six years of marriage! Yet that huge settlement stands as an insult to any woman Jerry’s age — at 66, she’s two years older than me — who dearly hopes to marry again.

The figures in her case may be eyewatering, but the principles are the same. Middle-aged men and women even of modest means think long and hard about marrying. If it fails, they fear they’ll get fleeced.

I speak from experience. During my last — sadly failed — engagement, I made it clear to my fiancé I’d never seek a penny of his money.

I wanted a ‘pre-nup’ establishing that if we split, I would get nothing: just keep the happy memories. His children would receive their full entitlement: his pension, his home and whatever savings were left after the taxman had taken his greedy share.

In turn, of course, he’d have no claim on my finances: I’ve worked hard all my life and it’s up to me what I do with my modest wealth.

When Jerry split with Mick Jagger in 1999, she received around £30 million, including a vast family home. Her children are grown-up: she has enough money to last several lifetimes.

Yet it seems she even wanted to be given Rupert’s £164 million Montana ranch and has now been ‘displaced’ from his vineyard in California. How many houses does a girl need?

Inevitably, Jerry has suggested it’s all the stepchildren’s fault. It is claimed they never trusted her, suspecting she was after their dad’s money. Maybe they were right.

Yes, Rupert has kept most of his billions, but surely she is letting down lovelorn women everywhere.

Call me old-fashioned, but marriage should be about love, not money.

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2022-08-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

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