Friends rally around Packer’s effort to deal with mental health issues

James Packer has done the “right thing” stepping back from his business interests to deal with mental health issues.

James Packer in La Ellerstina, his Polo Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Picture: Alejandro Kirchuk

Australian casino billionaire James Packer has done the “right thing” stepping back from his business interests to deal with mental health issues, friend John Brogden said yesterday.

Mr Brogden, who stepped aside as head of the Australian ­Institute of Company Directors last year citing depression, said Mr Packer had mental health ­issues in the past and had recovered, and he believed he would ­recover again.

“He is doing the right thing for him and his family and for his company ... it’s so much harder for him being a public figure. At that really dark point you never think you will get better,” said Mr Brogden, chairman of Lifeline and chief executive of the NSW government’s Landcom.

He said he had known Mr Packer for 15 years and had talked to him about his mental health in the past, adding that Mr Packer was a generous donor to Lifeline.

Mr Packer’s private investment vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings, announced yesterday he had resigned from the board of Crown Resorts, in which he has a 47 per cent stake, for personal ­reasons. “Mr Packer is suffering from mental health issues. He ­intends to step back from all commitments,” a spokesman said.

The Australian understands Mr Packer has depression and anxiety. An insider described his condition as “living with dark clouds and at the moment the dark clouds are outnumbering the others”. It is understood he will not be treated at a facility.

Jeff Kennett, former chairman of beyondblue and director of Seven Network, said he was sad for Mr Packer because he was a friend. “But there is a positive that even he feels in 2018 that he can publicly say he has a mental health issue, that he is going to get help and that he needs some time out,” he said.

Mr Packer has relied on the support of confidantes including Crown executive chairman John Alexander, Consolidated Press Holdings chief executive Guy ­Jalland and friend Ben Tilley, who was also close to Mr Packer’s late father Kerry. Mr Alexander said yesterday the board, informed of the news yesterday morning, respected his decision to step down from his role as a ­director. Mr Packer had stepped off the Crown board at the end of 2015, returning in August 2017.

Shares in the Australian-listed Crown Resorts fell just under 1 per cent yesterday to $12.95 on the news, which wiped about $38 million from the value of Mr Packer’s stake in the casino company.

Mr Packer, whose wealth is ­estimated by Forbes to be $4 billion, has struggled personally in recent years, including his high profile engagement to, and then break-up with, American singer Mariah Carey, which would have been his third marriage.

He has also been caught up in a corruption inquiry into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was interviewed by the Australian Federal Police in ­November. There are no allegations of wrongdoing on Mr Packer’s behalf and the Israeli and Australian police confirmed he was interviewed as a witness, not a suspect.

Mr Packer, whose last public appearance in Australia was at Crown’s annual general meeting in October, was also personally affected by the October 2016 arrest of 18 Crown staff in Shanghai.

When the Weekend Australian Magazine visited Mr Packer last October at Ellerstina, his polo ranch outside Buenos Aires, he said the past four or five years had been tumultuous. He also ­acknowledged he had lost friends, put on weight and, for the past year, become a recluse.

The father of three is effectively estranged from his sister Gretel following the settlement of their father’s estate.

The 50-year-old has also fallen out with his former movie-making business partner and friend Brett Ratner, who introduced Mr Packer to Carey.

Mr Packer, who was recently in Aspen which he now officially calls home, has returned to his polo ranch in Argentina to focus on his mental health. “I have never liked the publicity. I get more publicity than anyone and have for 20 years. Most of it is negative. And you get gun-shy of getting hit,” he told the Weekend Australian Magazine last October.

Mr Packer has made headlines for personal dramas and in May 2014 was photographed fighting then Nine Entertainment boss, and former friend, David Gyngell outside Mr Packer’s Bondi home.

Mr Packer said that two years ago he was “terrified” because of the debt his private vehicle and Crown Resorts had obtained while he was also trying to finalise settlement with his sister Gretel.

“Then, a year later, I’ve got China falling apart, the Australian casino businesses missing budgets, I’ve got Mariah breaking up with me and I’m thinking, ‘F..k!’” he said.