The Fresh Blood Of Trophy Wives Keeps Aging Moguls Feeling Young
Today's LAT celebrates seemingly immortal media moguls Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch as "the last of the titans," two old-school autocrats who will be separated from the empires they've built only by the unlikely occurrence of corporeal death. And what's the secret to their impressive twilight-year vigor? Wives young enough to withstand the pharmaceutical-powered assault of reproductive organs that lesser, weaker men might have retired decades ago:
The 83-year-old Redstone married his second wife, Paula Fortunato, a former New York schoolteacher who is now 44, in 2003.
Murdoch, 75, took his third wife, Wendi Deng, in 1999. The former executive at News Corp.'s Asian satellite service is 37.
Call it the "fountain of youth effect," said Stuart Fischoff, professor emeritus of media psychology at Cal State L.A.
He says younger wives can be revitalizing for aging lions. "It's a generalized arouser, giving a sense of purpose, a new spirit ... a new inspiration," he said.
The Times further points out Redstone's youth-sustaining passion for collecting exotic fish, a pursuit that should dovetail nicely with his new bride-collecting hobby by allowing him to dispose of his current partner in an assiduously maintained piranha tank when she passes her trophy wife expiration date sometime in the next half-decade.
