Wendi Deng Murdoch, action hero

London: The Murdoch who may have emerged in the best light from the grueling question-and-answer session in the British Parliament on Tuesday was not Rupert Murdoch or his son James, but his wife, Wendi. (Read: Who is Wendi Deng Murdoch?)

It was Mrs. Murdoch, 42, who lunged across the hearing room to defend her husband when, after about two hours of intense questioning, a protester stormed the witness table, trying to hit Mr. Murdoch, 80, with a shaving cream pie on a paper plate. (Read: The man who attacked Murdoch)

Even as James Murdoch seemed frozen to his seat, shock written across his face at the sight of the intruder, Mrs. Murdoch leaped quickly to her feet from her chair just behind her husband, swung her arm in a great arch and punched the protester.

The speed of her reactions left even a police officer trailing as he ambled over to sort out the melee.

Her actions brought immediate praise even from those lawmakers who had directed the toughest questions at Mr. Murdoch, chairman of the News Corporation. (Pics - Phone hacking scandal: Who said what)

"Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook," said Tom Watson, a Labour member of Parliament.

And it made her an instant hero among the millions of television viewers who had tuned in to watch the face-off between the Murdochs and their parliamentary interrogators. (Read:
Phone hacking: Full text of Murdoch's statement to MPs)

"Wow, Wendi Murdoch giving whole new meaning to the term tiger mother ... insanity!" Katie Couric, the former "CBS Evening News" anchor, said in a comment on Twitter about Mrs. Murdoch, who was born in China.

Mrs. Murdoch, who is Mr. Murdoch's third wife, had sat behind her husband loyally throughout the more than two hours of tense questioning, her long black hair and bright pink jacket caught in the television frame.

Her presence perhaps should not have been a surprise in this difficult public moment for him.

Although she has no formal high-ranking title in Mr. Murdoch's companies, she acts as counselor to her husband and by all accounts has asserted influence in his global media empire.

She has proved to be a particularly important asset as he has sought to develop his business interests in China.

A daughter of a factory director in Guangzhou, China, Mrs. Murdoch moved to the United States with the aid of a California couple, according to a Wall Street Journal profile of her in 2000. She learned English, eventually went to the Yale School of Management and then returned to Asia, where she worked at Star TV in Hong Kong. It was at Star TV, once owned by Mr. Murdoch, that she met the press tycoon.

She now lives with Mr. Murdoch and their two daughters, Grace and Chloe, in a penthouse apartment previously owned by Laurance S. Rockefeller on Fifth Avenue in New York - for which they paid a record-breaking $44 million.

She has long been a subject of gossip columns. But she rose to new prominence with her actions in the committee room in Parliament on Tuesday.

Some reports in the British press suggested that after the thwarted attack she even picked up the paper plate from the witness table and shoved it into the protester's face, screaming as she did so.

The protester - identified in news reports here as Jonathan May-Bowles, a k a Jonnie Marbles, a comedian - was later led away by the police with his face covered in white cream.

And after an approximately 15-minute suspension, the hearing resumed. Rupert Murdoch had removed his jacket. And Mrs. Murdoch had once again taken her place close behind him.