Rupert Murdoch was hospitalized in January after suffering an accident on his son Lachlan's yacht, a spokesman for the media mogul confirmed to The Hill.

In an email to senior colleagues last week, the 86-year-old executive co-chairman of 21st Century Fox and acting CEO of Fox News addressed his accident, explaining that he suffered a "painful back injury" while on son Lachlan's yacht.

Murdoch said he was taken by helicopter off the boat to a nearby hospital in Los Angeles, where he was recovering until recently.

The accident was first reported by Vanity Fair.

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His accident and hospitalization comes as Murdoch plans to sell 21st Century Fox's TV and film assets to the Walt Disney Company, a $52.4 billion deal that would not include Fox News.

The conservative billionaire has been in headlines in recent weeks after he reportedly called President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE a "f---ing idiot" in quotes from the newly published book about the Trump administration, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," by author Michael Wolff.

In December, the acting Fox News chief also caused controversy when he appeared to dismiss sexual harassment and misconduct claims at the news network as "nonsense" despite the ousting of former host Bill O'Reilly and former CEO Roger Ailes over such complaints.

"It's all nonsense," he said in a video interview with Sky News last month. "There was a problem with our chief executive, sort of. Over the year, isolated incidents. As soon as we investigated, he was out of the place."

In a statement, the company defended Murdoch, saying his comments referred to whether the allegations would complicate the company's bid to acquire Sky News.

"Rupert never characterized the sexual harassment matters at FOX News as 'nonsense,' " the company said in a statement. "Rather he responded negatively to the suggestion that sexual harassment issues were an obstacle to the company's bid for the rest of Sky."

Updated: 5:06 P.M. EST.