Friends, exes at James Packer book launch
James Packer’s ex-wife Jodhi Meares appeared at the launch of Damon Kitney’s book, as Kerry Stokes detailed how he took on Mariah Carey’s entourage | WATCH
Media magnate Kerry Stokes said he had to play “scrooge” to shield his friend James Packer from the wrath of Mariah Carey’s entourage when he engineered the cancellation of the 2016 wedding between the pop diva and troubled billionaire.
Speaking in a special presentation to mark the launch of The Price of Fortune: The untold story of being James Packer by Damon Kitney, The Australian’s Victorian Business Editor, Mr Stokes revealed intimate details of the key role he played in stymieing attempts by Ms Carey’s agents and friends to make the wedding happen.
“That was interesting,” Mr Stokes, chairman of Seven West Media, told a crowd of more than 100 people at the book’s launch in Sydney on Monday to roars of laughter. “Of particular difficulty was her agent. She was very aggressive and a little different to most agents we have come across.”
The launch was attended by a star-studded group of business identities and several of Mr Packer’s closest confidants, including his ex-wife Jodhi Meares, Consolidated Press Holdings executives Mark Arbib and Sam McKay, Crown Resorts chief financial officer Ken Barton and Peter Yates, the former chief executive of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited.
Also in the room was fund manager Geoff Wilson, Village Roadshow boss Graham Burke and Herald & Weekly times chairman Penny Fowler, as well as Siobhan McKenna, News Corporation’s group director — broadcasting.
As revealed in The Australian on Monday, Mr Stokes staged an intervention that included taking control of the personal affairs of Mr Packer in 2016, when the Crown Resorts majority shareholder was struggling to function while coping with stress and depression.
Mr Stokes organised for Mr Packer to travel to Israel for three weeks to clear his head, just before the planned March 2016 wedding to Ms Carey. The move enraged the singer’s entourage, who tried to organise a luxury jet to be sent to Israel to fetch Mr Packer and bring him back to the United States — but Mr Stokes refused to sanction payment for the plane.
“They had chartered a jet from Las Vegas, big jet to Israel to bring him home,” Mr Stokes told the launch. “I refused to authorise the payment and that resulted in some difficult conversations with her agent. But I did offer them two economy round trip tickets. They didn’t take that offer.
“James given everything, he is very generous. He was extremely generous [to Carey] beyond what I could comprehend. So they’ve gone from James being generous and then they got scrooge … all those presents dried up and they got a bit agitated.”
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