When Rupert Murdoch sat before a British House of Commons select committee in July 2011, Wendi Deng appeared the very picture of a supportive spouse. Dressed in a pink Chanel jacket and black pencil skirt, she poured the then 80-year-old's water for him, lovingly stroked his back and quietly reminded him to calm down when he began slapping the table to make his point.
Most impressively of all, the former volleyball player leapt out of her seat with athletic speed to administer a fierce right-handed spike to the protesting comedian, Jonnie Marbles, who had rammed a foam pie into the octogenarian's face. Having dispatched the assailant, she then carefully cleaned the remnants of the pie from her husband's suit. As an advertisement for a loyal and dutiful wife, it could hardly have been improved had she stood up and sung "Stand by Your Man."
But according to a damning feature in the latest issue of Vanity Fair, the marriage was already coming apart. Behind the scenes, it argues, Deng had become hypercritical and aggressive toward Murdoch. As one friend is quoted as saying, she "would insult him, insult staff, scream, bark orders."