James Packer: journey of a private man and his demons

James Packer has opened up about the darkest year of his life.

When I first sat down with James Packer in Aspen on a freezing winter’s night in mid-January this year to start the formal interviews for his biography, it was the billionaire who asked questions.

Seated on his favourite living-room couch — diving into a bowl of Twisties with one hand, clutching a cigarette in the other — he asked me what I was trying to achieve in asking him to help with a book he never wanted to happen.

When I had interviewed him in Argentina for The Weekend Australian Magazine last October, he told me politely but firmly that he would never co-operate with an author to tell his story for a book. He had already refused to co-­operate with a fellow journalist who was writing a book on his life.

After the magazine article ­appeared, I was approached by a publisher to write Packer’s biography. They asked if he would assist. I told them his response in Argentina, but they urged me to try again. To my surprise, he changed his mind and agreed.

My answer to his question that January night in Aspen was simple: I wanted to tell his life story, warts and all, good and bad, fairly and accurately. So began a six-month process that proved both painful and cathartic for the ­famously private subject.

I was granted unprecedented access into his personal life with face-to-face interviews on three continents, and countless documents, photographs, emails and text messages.

I also interviewed Hollywood film stars and producers, top local and international businessmen, former giants of politics and some of Packer’s closest family and friends around the world. Many had been close friends with his ­father and had never opened up publicly about his son.

The project went off the rails for a time at the end of March when it became apparent how much the interviews for this book were taking out of him.

Reviewing the darkest parts of his past had clearly been a deeply emotional and painful experience.

He told me several times how much the project was taking out of him, physically and emotionally.

The manifestation of that was publicly revealed on March 20 when he resigned from the Crown board, citing mental health ­reasons.

For 2½ weeks, he didn’t reply to any of my messages as he was treated at the Pavilion clinic in Boston. When he finally resumed contact in mid-April, he recommitted to the project, vowing to continue to be as transparent and honest with me as possible. He now says he is in a good place.

Last weekend, when I was in the US, I had lunch with him at his new home in Beverly Hills on a stunning Los Angeles afternoon. He even gave me a tour of the property, including the family wing where his children each have their own bedrooms.

They have their own desks in a communal play area furnished with board games and toys, upon which their pencils were neatly ­arranged.

At the outset, Packer said he did not want to read the manuscript, nor even know the title of the book. He kept his word throughout the production process.

The Price of Fortune tells the human story of being James Douglas Packer: the son of one of the toughest and most famous ­fathers of them all, the brother of Gretel, the lover of celebrities, the husband of Jodhi and Erica, and the father of Indigo, Jackson and Emmanuelle.

And the businessman who ­almost lost it all yet managed to survive — but at a cost, reflected in his addictions, broken marriages, lost friendships and his eventual admission that, despite his vast wealth and fortune, he needed help.