"She used to wash her clothes and face with the same soap, said a 2008 Vogue article, and seldom wore makeup, much less luxuriated in the perks of privilege — like the private yoga classes with her friends Kathy Freston and Arianna Huffington — she indulges in today. At Yale, she would stake out Filene’s Basement to procure designer gowns on the cheap. Today, she is regularly photographed wearing Rodarte and Prada."

Ms. Huffington and Ms. Deng recently co-hosted the book party for Ms. Freston's diet book, The Lean. (Ms. Freston is the recently separated wife of ex-Viacom chief Tom.) They served guests Martha Stewart, Joel Klein and Harvey Weinstein vegan hors d'oeuvres made with tofu, quinoa and kale.

Ms. Huffington recalled a toast Mrs. Murdoch gave.

“She said, ‘I grew up so poor in China that one day I aspired to have meat regularly,’ ” Mrs. Huffington told the Times. “ ‘Now that I can have meat three times a day, Kathy tells us we can’t have any meat at all.’ ”