Was it stress? James Packer and Erica to divorce after six years
BILLIONAIRE James Packer's six-year marriage to Erica Baxter is over, with stress cited as one of the reasons for their divorce. The couple have three children together.
BILLIONAIRE James Packer's six-year marriage to his wife Erica is over - just months after moving into their dream $50 million mansion at Vaucluse.
The glamorous couple, who have three young children, signed divorce papers in Sydney this week, sources told The Daily Telegraph.
GALLERY - JAMES AND ERICA PACKER
Mr Packer, who turns 46 tomorrow, has endured years of pressure establishing his global business empire. He broke the sad news to friends in recent weeks.
"It's just been years of pressure for James - One.Tel, getting into Macau, his father dying, selling out of Channel Nine, seeing Las Vegas investments go bad ... it's all taken its toll,'' one friend said.
The statement released to The Daily Telegraph yesterday said it was with "great sadness that Erica and James Packer announce their separation".
GALLERY - ERICA AND THE PACKER CHILDREN
"We remain deeply close friends and incredibly proud parents and our children are our priority going forward,'' they said.
The shock split comes only two months after Mr Packer achieved his crowning glory as a businessman, winning a NSW government licence to build a $1.5 billion casino-hotel resort at Barangaroo on the western shore of Sydney Harbour.
Erica, 36, is believed to be taking time out in southern California where she has rented a home in Los Angeles with their children Indigo, 5, Jackson, 3, and Emmanuelle, who turns one later this month.
It is believed the couple signed a pre-nuptial agreement worth tens of millions of dollars.
But one source said Mr Packer, Australia's third-richest person with a personal fortune of about $6 billion, has undertaken to provide generously for Erica and his children.
Mr Packer finalised arrangements in Sydney this week, where he was spotted taking advice from his closest adviser Matthew Grounds, the highly regarded UBS investment banker, during a walk at North Bondi.
"James' main priority at the moment is the wellbeing of his kids,'' a family friend told The Daily Telegraph.
One friend said if Erica decided to settle in Sydney with their children, she would have the option of returning to their Vaucluse home, which the couple lived in together for only a month after moving in around April.
They had spent more than three years expanding the sprawling estate, which features a 13-car garage, rooftop lap pool, gymnasium, soaring 6.2m ceilings and bedrooms for guests and staff.
The couple married on the romantic French Riviera in June 2007 in a glittering $6 million affair before Hollywood celebrities, sports stars and business moguls.
Mr Packer, who is now in Europe, has told friends he desperately needs time to "chill out" and clear his mind after years of intense pressure saving his business from the brink of disaster in the wake of the global financial crisis.
It is understood he has ventured to a Himalayan spiritual retreat to meditate in recent times to restore calmness to his life. He has also undertaken a punishing fitness regime after having lap-band surgery.
It is his second divorce after his first marriage to bikini model and fashion designer Jodhi Meares in 1999 lasted three years.
Friends have noticed Mr Packer and Erica spending more time apart over the past year, with the hard-charging billionaire continuing to travel the globe to oversee new casino projects in Macau, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Erica, who was spotted in Paris at a Christian Dior fashion show in July, spent several weeks of the northern summer in Europe with their children.
Mr Packer began dating the Gunnedah-born beauty in 2003 and encouraged her to chase her dream of recording pop albums.
After together weathering the death of Mr Packer's larger-than-life father Kerry Packer, on Boxing Day 2005, the couple celebrated their marriage during a week-long extravaganza, culminating with an exchange of vows at the majestic Hotel du Cap Eden Roc in Cap D'Antibes.
Erica wore a $100,000 Christian Dior gown in front of intimate gathering of family and friends, which included Tom Cruise and his then wife Katie Holmes, best man David Gyngell, now the Channel Nine boss, influential broadcaster Alan Jones and News Corporation director Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah.
Yet between the joy of the children's births, Erica has faced family tragedy, with her mother Sheelah Baxter succumbing to a courageous 13-year battle with cancer in November 2011.
Mrs Baxter had spent her final days watching her grandchildren play on a beach in Fiji after Mr Packer flew the family to Pacific retreat when it became apparent her fragile condition was deteriorating.
Mr Packer's company, Crown Ltd, faces an extremely busy decade ahead, with a new $1 billion Crown Philippines casino due to open in Manilla next year, followed by Macau's $2.4b Studio City in 2015 - and, possibly, a $380 million casino resort in Sri Lanka in 2017.
Crown's Burswood's $568m Crown Towers in Perth is also due to be completed in 2016, followed by the $1.4 billion Crown Sydney hotel in 2018 and the casino the following year.
Only two months ago, Mr Packer was on a high when he spoke to The Daily Telegraph from Tel Aviv after the NSW Government announced it would green-light the Barangaroo project.
"There's been bigger and better deals, but this is the most special for me, I feel humbled," he said during a business stopover before he was due to jet into London to catch up with Erica and their children.
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