Rumours are circulating that Wendi Deng and Vladimir Putin are dating. Photos / Getty Images/AP
Rumours are circulating that Wendi Deng and Vladimir Putin are dating. Photos / Getty Images/AP
A US magazine has claimed that Wendi Deng and Vladimir Putin are dating.
US Weekly published the astonishing claims a day after Rupert Murdoch's ex-wife was pictured going onto Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's yacht in St Barth during a vacation with her family.
One source told the publication they are "serious".
They claim rumors have been circulating around the world after the pair divorced their former partners.
Putin split from Lyudmila - the mother of his two children - after 30 years of marriage in 2013, while Deng split from media mogul Murdoch in 2014.
Deng is also very close friends with Abramovich's partner Dasha Zhukova
In 2014, a year after his divorce, Putin was rumored to have had an affair with Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva.
There were also claims he fathered a child with her, but the Kremlin strongly denied both accusations.
The claims first circulated in 2008, but Putin was rarely questioned as his sex life was seen as a taboo.
Deng's ex-husband Rupert Murdoch married Jerry Hall this year. Photo / AP
Deng is currently enjoying a Caribbean getaway with her two daughters just weeks after her ex-husband Murdoch married his new wife Jerry Hall.
Photos showed her shopping for toiletries on the Caribbean island before ushering a handful of children onto a small boat that took them out to Abramovich's $400million mega-yacht Eclipse - which once held the record for largest privately owned yacht.
The she wore a pink floral-print dress with a drop waist, paired with casual black-and-white slip-on sandals.
Murdoch and Deng married in 1999 and have two children together, daughters Grace and Chloe.
It was Murdoch who filed for divorce in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences. Reports at the time stated that Murdoch had grown suspicious of his wife's close relationship with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the godfather to one of their daughters.
Blair has consistently denied that there was anything inappropriate about their relationship.
Earlier this month, Deng turned heads at Paris Fashion Week where she showed up on the arm of a much-younger escort.
Deng was smiling ear-to-ear as she attended the Giambatista Valli show with her dapper date, 30-year-old violinist Charlie Siem, who is also the UK's youngest professor.
During her marriage to Mr Murdoch, Chinese-born Miss Deng, who met the billionaire while working as an intern, became known for her fierce loyalty to her husband.
When the media tycoon was giving evidence in Parliament over the hacking scandal she protected her husband from a custard pie thrown from the audience.
But their marriage unravelled and ended in 2013 - shortly after emails from Miss Deng were uncovered that suggested a close relationship with Mr Blair - which were shown to Mr Murdoch by one of his sons.
In one memo to herself, Miss Deng had written: "Oh s***, oh s***. Whatever why I'm so so missing Tony. Because he is so charming and his clothes are so good.
"He has such a good body and he had his really, really good legs Butt [sic] . . . 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 what else what else . . ."
Other messages suggested that Mr Blair had met Miss Deng in New York, London and Beijing.
Wendi Deng Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch in 2012. Photo / Getty Images
Hours after the divorce was announced, Mr Blair telephoned Mr Murdoch, insisting he was innocent. But, after a brief conversation, the tycoon refused to take any more of his calls.
Blair nevertheless spoke regularly with Miss Deng on the phone. With the support of Mr Blair's wife Cherie, both he and Miss Deng publicly denied there had ever been an affair.
While Miss Deng was believed to be single, her ex-husband found love again and married for the fourth time earlier this month.
Miss Hall and Mr Murdoch were bound to turn out to be an eclectic gathering with a colourful bunch of guests reflecting their past loves and lives.
As well as his daughters with Miss Deng, his other children are Prudence, 53, James, 43, Lachlan, 44, and Elisabeth, 47. Miss Hall's other children are James, 30, and Gabriel, 18, both of whose father is Sir Mick.
She moved from China to the US when she was 21 on a student visa. She was living with Jake and Joyce Cherry, who had sponsored her studies.
Mrs Cherry later found out Deng was having an affair with her husband and ordered her to leave the house.
Mr Cherry then moved in with Deng, and the pair got married in 1990. Their marriage lasted 2 years 7 months before they were legally divorced, but Jake would later explain they stayed together for only four or five months.
He learned that Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her age. Nonetheless, she had been able to secure a green card through her marriage to Cherry.
In 1997 she met Rupert Murdoch at a company party in Hong Kong. They married in 1999 on board his yacht 'The Morning Glory[de],'less than three weeks after the finalization of his divorce from his second wife, Anna Murdoch.
In January, Putin's ex-wife Lyudmila married a man 21 years her junior, according to reports in Moscow.
The 58-year-old former Russian first lady appears on official records to have changed her name as if she is now the spouse of a known friend, dashing businessman Arthur Ocheretny, 37.
It is in stark contrast to rumours that the former Aeroflot stewardess had found sanctuary by shutting herself away in an Orthodox Church nunnery.
There is no confirmation of the union as marriage certifcates are not public in Russia.
