Wendi Deng Murdoch Lauded by Katie Couric for Jumping to Defense of Husband Rupert Murdoch

NEW YORK – Wendi Deng Murdoch, the wife of News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, immediately got Twitter kudos, including from industry folks, for leaping from her seat to fend off a man who tried to hit her husband with a plate with a white substance during his U.K. parliamentary committee testimony on the phone hacking scandal. 



TV news anchor Katie Couric tweeted: “Wow wendy murdoch giving whole new meaning to the term tiger mother...insanity!”



Alexandra Wentworth, who in her Twitter profile highlights that she is an actress/writer and Oprah Winfrey correspondent, said on Twitter: “OMG! Wendi Murdoch just crouching tigered across 2 people and head whacked a guy trying to pie Rupert! THAT is good TV!”



Other Twitter messages ranged from “Go Wendi” to “Wendi Deng. Tiger Wife!” 



Tom Watson, one member of the parliamentary committee who had questioned Murdoch persistently, also lauded her defense skills, saying at the end of the hearing: "Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook."

Katie Rosman, a technology and pop-culture writer for the Wall Street Journal, said the incident may be good for Murdoch’s image. “That pie thrower did more for Murdoch than Edelman ever could,” she tweeted in reference to recently hired PR firm Edelman.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai