Aussie billionaire James Packer: Rise and fall of a casino empire
As James Packer steps away from his Crown casinos empire, we take a look back at his business, personal and mental health struggles over the years, as he shifts into the next stage of his life.
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Aussie billionaire James Packer has had some ups and downs during his life — and we’re not just talking about his weight.
The only son of the late media magnate Kerry Packer continued his dad’s legacy and branched out to pursue his own ventures including his dream of building and owning a global casino empire.
But it was not all smooth sailing for Packer — who has stayed away from his hometown since 2020 as Crown Resorts came under fire during the Bergin inquiry investigating Crown’s fitness to hold a casino licence in NSW.
The successful businessman, who is now $3.3 billion richer thanks to his sale of Crown shares, plans to come back to Sydney for the first time in years with his former wife and their three children next March.
We take a look back at his business, personal and mental health struggles over the years, as he shifts into the next stage of his life after Crown.
Early life
James Packer was born on September 8, 1967 to dad Kerry Packer and mum Roslyn.
He has an older sister Gretel, whom he was estranged with for years following the death of their dad Kerry in 2005, aged 68, at odds over his will.
But in 2022, Packer said he had worked on his family relationships.
“My Mum and I are very close and my sister Gretel and I are now perfect, which is to her credit more than mine,” he told The Australian.
His grandfather was Sir Frank Packer, a pioneering media mogul who died in 1974. Kerry followed in his father’s footsteps and became one of the country’s most well-known media tycoons before his death, where James continued the family legacy.
Personal life
James Packer has been married and divorced twice.
He had a relationship with model Kate Fischer, who later changed her name to Tziporah Malkah, and was engaged to her in the late 1990s before they split.
His first marriage to model Jodhi Meares broke down in 2002 after two years.
He married Erica Baxter, a former singer and model, in 2007 on the romantic French Riviera in a $6m event attended by Hollywood celebrities, business moguls and sports stars. They had begun dating in 2003.
They have three children — Indigo (born 2008), Jackson (born 2010) and Emmanuelle (born 2012) — but split after six years.
The former couple have reportedly been getting along well recently as they work to co-parent their children.
In 2015, he started a relationship with US singer Mariah Carey and became engaged in January 2016, with Packer proposing in New York with a $10 million 35 carat ring.
Their engagement did not last long after reports of the couple fighting in Greece were aired, with them both calling it quits by September.
Packer later called the entire relationship a “mistake”.
“I was at a low point in my personal life,” Mr Packer told The Australian in 2017.
“She was kind, exciting and fun. Mariah is a woman of substance. But it was a mistake for her and a mistake for me.”
He reportedly paid the singer millions in a financial settlement in late-2017.
Packer was in a long-term relationship with socialite Kylie Lim from around 2018 and he credits her for helping to turn his life around.
She was with him when he checked into the McLean Hospital in Belmont in the United States to receive treatment for his mental health issues. The couple split up in 2021.
In 2015, Packer revealed he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was on a variety types of medications but by 2022 he is living his life without antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs and is focusing on his health and wellbeing.
Weight loss and mental health journey
Packer has recently lost 33kg, weighing about 130kg in July 2022. He hopes to be 100kg again by the end of the year by eating well and exercising.
His fluctuating weight has been highly-publicised with the business tycoon admitting to undergoing lap band surgery in 2012, which initially, along with diet and exercise, helped him lost more than 35kg.
In more recent years, he gained weight again mainly due to “seven different mood-altering (prescription) drugs” for the mental health issues, he told The Australian.
But three months after coming off all antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs in 2022, Packer managed to lose more than 30kg.
In a 2018 biography, The Price of Fortune, The Untold Story of Being James Packer, he talks about his mental health and alcoholism struggles as he dealt with his business empire collapsing and the breakdown of several relationships.
After stepping away from Crown in 2018, Packer checked into America’s most exclusive mental health facility, the McLean Hospital in Belmont, for “personal reasons” and to treat “mental health issues”. He stayed at the exclusive rehab facility for five weeks.
Controversies
Packer’s Crown Resorts gambling empire began to crumble when it became the subject of the
Bergin inquiry in 2019 — leading to three inquiries across three states where allegations of money laundering and links to Triads on the premises of the Crown casino was found.
In October 2020, Packer appeared via video link from his yacht at an inquiry investigating Crown’s fitness to hold a casino licence in NSW.
Despite opening the resort at Barangaroo in late 2020, Crown has been prevented from using the gaming floors after an ILGA-initiated inquiry concluded it was not suitable to hold a licence to operate a casino in Sydney.
Former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin found Packer’s influence had “disastrous consequences for the company” and he agreed to step back, before selling his 37 per cent share of Crown Resorts to US private equity fund Blackstone, with Packer pocketing $3.3 billion. This was part of an overall sale for $8.9bn.
The deal was finalised on June 24 and the following month, Crown Sydney announced it would finally open its gaming floor for VIP members at the $2.2bn casino site on August 8.
“The sale of Crown is the end of my Act 2 and the beginning of my Act 3. I want to learn from my mistakes and I’m hoping for a meaningful and successful Act 3,” Packer told The Australian in June.
In 2019, Packer was embroiled in a Hollywood sex scandal after explosive texts by his former actress girlfriend, British actress Charlotte Kirk, were made public, alleging Packer introduced her to a man who in turn sought sexual favours for film and TV roles.
Apart from his very public personal relationships, Packer also made headlines in 2014 following a fist fight with then Nine chief executive David Gyngell on a Bondi Beach footpath.
The former best friends were photographed brawling outside Packer’s then Bondi Beach home.
Business life
The collapse of telecommunications company One.Tel in 2001 was the beginning of a tumultuous journey for Packer, as it essentially wiped out his personal fortune.
This caused some strain between him and his father Kerry for many years but just before he died in 2005, Kerry told his heir to carve out his own path.
James decided to move away from the media empire founded by his great grandfather R.C. Packer and built up by his grandfather Frank and father Kerry into a powerhouse incorporating Nine and Australian Consolidated Press to focus on a worldwide gambling empire.
He created a film production business in Hollywood called RatPac Entertainment in 2003, which he sold off by 2017.
Through this he made many famous friends including Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, who was spotted partying with Packer on board his superyacht in July after boarding in Antibes, France.
Assets
Packer had an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion, with an impressive portfolio of properties around the world. These include:
* His superyacht IJE which he bought in 2019 but by late 2021, he put it up for sale, posting the asking price of $283 million. But six months later after just one “one paltry low-ball offer” decided to keep it. The giga-yacht is more than 300ft, has 11 cabins, a theatre, swimming pool and even a nightclub on board.
* $50 million Mexican hacienda in Cabo San Lucas
* A polo ranch/resort in Argentina
* An $80 million mansion in Los Angeles
* $20 million West Buttermilk Estate in the up-market US ski resort of Aspen
* A $72 million apartment atop the Crown casino development at One Barangaroo Crown Residences, on levels 48 and 49.
“I am coming back to Sydney, with Erica and my kids, all together, to stay at our family apartment at Crown Sydney for the first time next March. I can’t wait to see Crown Sydney, and to be in Sydney with my kids and with Eri,” Mr Packer told The Australian in June.
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Originally published as Aussie billionaire James Packer: Rise and fall of a casino empire
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