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Wendi Deng Murdoch Slugs Man Who Threw Foam Pie at Husband

By DNAinfo Staff on July 19, 2011 1:54pm

Wendi Deng Murdoch (in pink) rushed to her husband Rupert's side after a man tried to throw
Wendi Deng Murdoch (in pink) rushed to her husband Rupert's side after a man tried to throw
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FoxNews.com

MANHATTAN — Wendi Deng Murdoch's time in the Big Apple has apparently honed her reflexes.

The wife of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who left her apartment in Manhattan to be with her husband before British Parliament, sprang into action Tuesday morning after an activist infiltrated the room to hit her husband in the face with a pie tin filled with shaving foam, according to reports and video from the chaotic scene.

Wendi Murdoch is seen leaping from her seat to smack the attacker in the head before falling to the ground.

Rupert Murdoch, who is testifying before Parliment about the phone-hacking scandal that has embroiled his company News Corp. in controversy for the past several weeks, continued his testimony after the attack.

Unnamed sources have identified the assailant as Jonnie Marbles, according to Sky News.

A Twitter user by the same name appeared to allude to the attack before it happened, writing, "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat," shortly before the incident.

Wendi's hair-trigger response elicited a wave of admiration on Twitter, with one user writing, "Wendi Deng Murdoch is a Ninja!" and another nicknaming her "WENDY DAAAANG."

"Hooray for Wendi Murdoch for defending her man! We would have done the same!" wrote media personality Bonnie Fuller on Twitter.

"I'm awed by Wendi Murdoch taking down Rupert's attacker. She was way ahead of the police: Good for her," the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof added on Twitter.

The attacker was quickly removed from Parliament. Charges against him have not yet been announced.

The outburst came on the heels of several hours of questioning of Murdoch and his son, James, by Parliament, in which the duo were grilled about the expanding phone-hacking scandal carried out by reporters at Murdoch's shuttered tabloid News of the World.

The paper allegedly hacked into cell phones of story subjects, including a murdered teenager, and is accused of bribing members of law-enforcement and political officials.

The senior Murdoch was asked about whether News Corp. reporters ever hacked into phones in the U.S., as was alleged by rival British tabloid The Daily Mirror, which accused News of the World reporters of trying to bribe an NYPD officer to get phone numbers of 9/11 victims. The FBI is currently looking into the allegations of hacking.

"I cannot believe it happened anywhere in America," Murdoch told Parliament Tuesday, adding that if evidence emerged suggesting it happened, he would investigate.

Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly have said there is no preliminary evidence that any phones of 9/11 victims were hacked.