Rupert Murdoch's divorce settlement had a whole "Don't talk to the Succession writers" clause

It’s never been a secret that HBO’s Succession takes, as its primary real-world inspiration, the life of Newscorp founder Rupert Murdoch. The media empire, the interfamilial dramas, the abundant supply of fail-sons and -daughters waiting in the wings for the old man to hand over the keys: Logan Roy basically is Murdoch, if Murdoch had the personal charm and power of Brian Cox in full fire-and-brimstone mode.

Which is why it was very funny to learn this week—per a new Vanity Fair profile digging into Murdoch’s life, and with a clear eye toward riding the wave of buzz surrounding the HBO series at the moment—that the media mogul has taken some very specific steps to try to keep his life and Logan’s a bit more distant. That includes, hilariously, a report that Murdoch’s recent divorce settlement from fourth wife Jerry Hall included a term that said Hall wasn’t allowed to turn around and give any story ideas to the writers of Succession.

This isn’t the first time the Roy family drama has intruded into the Murdoch one, either; the Vanity Fair piece also cites a source who says that Murdoch’s oldest son, Lachlan, has accused his younger brother, James, of leaking story ideas to the series. (A person close to Lachlan has apparently denied the rumors; such a Kendall move.) And while it’s not like Jesse Armstrong and his writers on Succession aren’t perfectly capable of coming up with plausible awful rich people eccentricities on their own, it’s also not hard to see why any rogue Murdochs might enjoy the chance to rub the old man’s nose in their issues—especially as the series continues to post joyous critical notices and strong ratings (and even as Logan Roy has now, once and for all, beaten Murdoch to the punch on something).