As the fallout from the despicable News Of The World phone hacking scandal continues, I continue to be amazed at how steadfast the aging media mogul's support has been of the former fire-starter editor turned chief executive.
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While she's successfully denigrated the reputation of journalists around the world, Brooks' bond with the tyrannical tycoon is interesting, and not just in the Freudian sense but as a case study of professional chemistry.
Among other things, she's been lauded as the lioness who protects Murdoch like a (slightly wrinkled) cub and vice versa.
I've only been in the workforce for a relatively short time but have already discovered that a relationship with the boss does not just involve a signature on a paycheque anymore.
Unlike other relationships in life, there are no self-help guides or subjects at school that teach you how to strike the right boss-employee balance.
It is a slippery slope. If you appear too close you are either vying for a promotion or sleeping together, but if you are too distant you may be left off the invite list to the next staff retreat.
I once worked under a woman who made The Devil Wears Prada look like a nursery rhyme. She carried around passive aggression like it was the latest "It" bag and she prided herself on back-handed compliments.
Weekly meetings were generally followed by trips to the first-aid kit to patch up the injuries sustained from being thrown under a bus in front of the big boss.
However I thought this was normal office politics. She was the boss, so you approached with caution, not with cheeky anecdotes from Friday night drinks.
Many of my friends are now friends with their superiors. They share mobile phone numbers, socialise together on the odd occasion and "Like" each other's Facebook status updates.
But is this brave new world of open plan offices and drinks with the CEO just adding more confusion to the professional food chain? Are there two sets of rules on how to interact - one for 9-to-5 and the other for what is supposedly "off-the-clock?"
When ex-Christian Dior designer John Galliano was fired for an anti-Semitic tirade against a couple in Paris bistro earlier this year, his boss at the luxury conglomerate LVMH Bernard Arnault took the designer's meltdown personally.
"I'm surprised that I did not get a call or a word of excuse from him. After all that I did for him," he said. Like a scorned lover he also said, just weeks ago, that it is still too soon for him to forgive him or see him.
Do you consider your boss or employee your friend? Or do you think work and play have to be kept separate, like extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar?
