TRUE LOVE

Could It Be That Vladimir Putin and Wendi Deng Are in Love?

An unsubstantiated rumor has the Internet crossing its fingers.
Image may contain Human Person Animal Mammal Horse Vladimir Putin Clothing Apparel Fashion Evening Dress and Gown
Left, by Alexsey Druginyn/AFP, right, by Dimitrios Kambouris, both from Getty Images.

When Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from his then wife Wendi Deng in 2013 after 14 years and two daughters together, everyone wondered what this would mean for the 40-something mother of two who moved to America for a man 38 years her senior. Where does a woman go to find love after devoting more than a decade to a billionaire News Corp. chief, who professed his love so sweetly aboard his yacht on their wedding day before sailing off into the sunset? He was a man, after all, who plucked her out of her internship at a News Corp.-owned television station in Hong Kong, who moved downtown from his preferred Upper East Side to please her, who even suffered through grueling six A.M. sessions at the gym and downed soy-protein concoctions at her behest. Finding that kind of love—that kind of life—is a lightning strike. Rarely does is strike twice.

But it turns out, for Deng, could strike (and strike and strike) again. Not long after the ink dried on her divorce, word started swirling that Murdoch ended the marriage because Deng was supposedly having an affair with former British prime minister Tony Blair (a claim Blair’s camp has denied). Rumors circulated that she had also spent nights with Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt at the Beverly Hills Hotel (Schmidt has declined to comment on the matter in the past).

It is difficult to imagine finding a fourth mate who could out-titan a media mogul, a king of technology, and a world leader, who, combined, are worth about $23 billion. But if there’s someone you want to bet on reaching that summit, it is Deng, who is now allegedly dating Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to the gossip magazine Us Weekly. Maybe Deng, then, is the lightning.

Now, it is unclear just how accurate the report is. Even the tabloid admits that news of the pairing stems from the rumor mill, though word on the couple has apparently been traveling among a certain set for some time. The two have yet to be spotted together in public, because that level of self-serving malevolence in one single frame would likely crumble the earth onto itself. But Us did report Deng was spotted earlier this week boarding the St. Barths–docked yacht of Russian businessman Roman Abramovich. After Putin’s election, the billionaire reportedly gifted him a $35 million yacht to add to his collection of playthings, according to the Daily Mail. This one degree of mega-yacht separation isn’t quite a confirmation, but it has to count for something, right?

Putin is freshly single, after having confirmed his divorce from his wife of 30 years in 2014. The size of his fortune, like much about the man, is largely shrouded in mystery; the Russian president has contended he makes $100,000 a year, while a former fund manager in Russia put his estimated net worth at $200 billion, which would make him the richest person in the world. The 58 aircraft, 700 automobiles, the palaces, the $1,500 sweat pants Putin reportedly has at his disposal could use a woman’s touch, and who better suited than Deng, who has made a life out of giving just that to her beloveds’ expensive toys.

In the end, all we know for sure is that this maybe couple is the couple of a collective fever dream—almost too deliciously good and despicably evil to exist in reality. And the timing may be just too convenient, coming so close on the heels of Murdoch’s joyous wedding to former model and Mick Jagger muse Jerry Hall earlier this month. But everyone deserves love, even if it is the fourth or fifth go-around, even if it is just another rung up (or down, depending on how you gauge it) the rich-and-powerful ladder, even if it means settling for a former K.G.B. spy accused of heinous crimes. The two share a mutual understanding of what it is like to come from humble beginnings and end up ruling their respective empires. Maybe, just maybe, they will together ride shirtless, off into happily ever after.