The Australian billionaire looks back on his short but intense relationship with the American singer.
While 48-year-old Mariah Carey is spending happy days with Bryan Tanaka, her 34-year-old dancer, Australian businessman and ex-fiancée diva James Packer breaks the silence. In an interview with The Australian, the now-reclusive living on his ranch in Buenos Aires tells how their love story was ” a mistake for her as for [him] “.
It was director and producer Brett Ratner, with whom Packer founded RatPac Intertainment, who introduced him to Mariah Carey. At the time of their meeting, James Packer is in tough negotiations with his sister around the legacy of their father while his business is doing very badly: he owes more than $ 5 billion to his creditors. For all that, he is throwing himself into this love story. In January 2016 in New York, he asks the singer in marriage with a ring worth 10 million, but after a catastrophic vacation on a yacht, the couple separates in October 2016.
Since that break, Packer has fled to Argentina. His business is bad. He made bad choices like putting $ 1.5 billion on the table to buy the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, while RatPac’s commercial failures cost him $ 100 million. ” I was at a low point in my personal life when I met Mariah,” he says with hindsight, ” The negotiations with my sister were not over.” Mariah was kind, funny and enthusiastic. She is very intelligent, but it was a mistake for her as for me. “
As for his arrival on the American continent, it was widely read that it was explained by Packer’s desire to live closer to Hollywood and its sequins. In fact, he wanted to get closer to his ex-wife Erica and their children: ” My biggest regret is to have let my marriage with Erica collapse.The things are as they are.It does an amazing job with children and we get on well. “
Since breaking away from Mariah Carey, James Packer has been focusing on his business, reducing debt while building a new casino in the historic Barangaroo neighborhood, which is being rehabilitated in Sidney. Packer did not comment on the rumors of the diva’s demands at their break: a $ 50 million compensation and the right to keep her sumptuous engagement ring.