Rebekah Mary Brooks is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor.
34 Facts About Rebekah Brooks
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Rebekah Brooks has been chief executive officer of News UK since 2015.
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Rebekah Brooks was previously CEO of News International from 2009 to 2011 and was the youngest editor of a British national newspaper at News of the World, from 2000 to 2003, and the first female editor of The Sun, from 2003 to 2009.
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Rebekah Brooks was a prominent figure in the News International phone hacking scandal, having been the editor of News of the World from 2000 to 2003 when one of the stories which involved illegal phone hacking was published by the newspaper.
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In September 2015, Rebekah Brooks was confirmed as CEO of News UK, the renamed News International, re-establishing a working relationship with Rupert Murdoch, founder and chairman of News Corp, and founder and executive chairman of American conservative cable news channel Fox News.
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Rebekah Brooks grew up in Daresbury, where her parents ran a tree pruning business.
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In 2010, Rebekah Brooks was awarded an honorary Fellowship from the University of the Arts, London, for contributions to journalism.
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Rebekah Brooks briefly attended the London College of Communication, now part of the university, as a student but did not graduate.
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Rebekah Brooks joined the Sunday newspaper News of the World in 1989 as a secretary, before working as a feature writer for its magazine, eventually becoming the paper's deputy editor.
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Rebekah Brooks then returned to the News of the World in 2000 as editor; at the time, she was the youngest editor of a national British newspaper.
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Rebekah Brooks has been chairman of the organisation Women in Journalism and has served as a judge for the "Guardian Student Media Awards" in November 2003 and the tenth annual Police Bravery Awards in July 2005, the latter sponsored by The Sun.
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In September 2015, Rebekah Brooks was reappointed as CEO of News UK, the renamed News International.
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Rebekah Brooks replied "We have paid police for information in the past".
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The Sun, of which Rebekah Brooks was editor, subsequently ridiculed Chris Bryant in a number of articles, starting with one about a photograph of him in his underpants from a gay dating website.
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Rebekah Brooks later claimed that in her response to Bryant's question she had merely been speaking about the widespread belief that payments had been made to police and denied having any knowledge of specific payments.
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However, this account is disputed by Whittingdale, who has stated there was a conversation about the possible repercussions of issuing a warrant for Rebekah Brooks but said that did not have any bearing on his decision and he did not believe News International would target committee members.
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On 11 May 2012, Rebekah Brooks appeared as a witness in the Leveson Inquiry.
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In 2011, The Guardian and a solicitor alleged that in 2002, when Rebekah Brooks was editor, the paper had hacked the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, to access messages left by her parents.
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Rebekah Brooks was found not guilty of phone hacking at her trial in 2014.
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In July 2011, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said Rebekah Brooks should "consider her position" after the Milly Dowler allegations.
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Prime Minister David Cameron said that if Rebekah Brooks had offered her resignation to him, he would have accepted it.
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When Rebekah Brooks told News of the World staff that the newspaper was being closed down, some reportedly said that all of their jobs had been sacrificed to save hers.
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The Daily Telegraph reported that despite resigning from her position, Rebekah Brooks remained on the company payroll and continued to receive her salary from News International, having been told by Rupert Murdoch to "travel the world on him for a year".
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On 17 July 2011, Rebekah Brooks was arrested by police on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption allegations.
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Rebekah Brooks was arrested by detectives working on Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police's phone hacking probe, and Operation Elveden, the probe examining illicit payments to police officers.
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On 13 March 2012, Rebekah Brooks was rearrested, together with her husband, on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
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On 24 June 2014, Rebekah Brooks was found not guilty on all charges related to the phone hacking.
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In September 2015, Rebekah Brooks was reappointed as CEO of the company, now named News UK.
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Rebekah Brooks was once a friend of Tony and Cherie Blair; and Gordon and Sarah Brown.
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Rebekah Brooks offered to act as an unofficial advisor to Brooks and to Rupert and James Murdoch.
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Rebekah Brooks offered her advice on how to deal with the phone hacking scandal.
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Rebekah Brooks became engaged to actor Ross Kemp in 1996, and married him in June 2002 in Las Vegas.
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On 3 November 2005, it was reported that Rebekah Brooks had been arrested following an alleged assault on her husband.
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Rebekah Brooks was released without charge, and the police took no further action.