It wasn't the phone call I was expecting on a quiet Sunday night in August, channel surfing at home in a post-dinner slumber as an "unknown number" message flashed on my iPhone. "It's James Packer here," said the voice, somewhat tersely, on the other end.
Caught a little off guard, I responded with "Yes James?" as I quickly gathered my thoughts. I darted a quizzical look at my partner, got off the couch, grabbed my notebook and began what would be one of the strangest 20-minute exchanges I've had in my 27-year career as a journalist.
Packer had taken umbrage with my column of the previous day and he had called me (for the first time in two decades of writing about him) to make it absolutely clear, and in no uncertain terms, that he and his fiancee Mariah Carey were the real thing, and that they had a passionate relationship. Indeed, he was at pains to express his admiration not just for the woman but for the performer, too, even recounting her album sales as America's best-selling pop star.
He went to great lengths to ensure that I had heard his message loud and clear, and from the noises in the background I could tell he wasn't alone, though I'll never be sure if Carey was there, too. Eventually we agreed to meet at his office on his next visit to Sydney in a few weeks, to coincide with his attendance at big sister Gretel Packer's 50th birthday, to which he assured me "you will be completely safe" when I reminded him of our last face-to-face meeting. During that interlude he had fired off a barrage of expletives and personally evicted me from his Derby Day marquee, exactly four years ago today.
Following our chat I started receiving a series of text messages and emails, the tone of his dispatches going from "this is an act of war" to "I want us to be friends". He even shared some of his favourite Mariah videos, including the pop star singing with Luciano Pavarotti. A few days before our planned meeting I was informed by Packer's office the meeting was off as Packer would be on unspecified "business in Israel". That was two months ago.
Packer never made it to his only sister's birthday party and has not responded to my queries this week about his split from Mariah Carey. According to the pop singer's statement on Friday, their break-up was over a fight during their holiday in Greece, which took place not long after my call from Packer. According to Carey's statement they have not seen each other since the fight. Packer and Carey are believed to both remain in the United States.
In recent weeks reports have surfaced around the world suggesting things were not going smoothly for the couple. One story, later denied by Carey, claimed that during a particularly explosive argument between the couple over fellow pop star Beyonce's Crazy In Love song being played, Carey supposedly threw Packer's laptop out the window.
"Complete rubbish" Packer's right-hand man, former trade unionist and Labor Party figure Mark Arbib told me at the time, adding he received 10 similar queries about rumours and stories a day. Clearly his boss was sick of it. Indeed, nobody would feel the weight of Carey's huge public profile more than Packer.
However, given her proclivity to share the most intimate moments of her life for the camera, whether it be bathing in millions of dollars worth of diamonds - some of them from Packer - for her Instagram feed, or talking about her wedding on her coming, fly-on-the-wall reality television series, such scrutiny clearly comes with the territory.
(Sydney Morning Herald)
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