James Packer has three children, two ex-wives and one late bullying father who casts an enormous shadow over everything he does.
His resignation from the board of Crown Resorts due to mental health problems may have surprised the business world but is hardly shocking.
James Douglas Packer was born to media mogul Kerry and his wife Ros in 1967. He was the couple’s only son and turned 50 in September last year.
Casino mogul James Packer with children Indigo, Jackson and Emmanuelle and ex-wife Erica
James Packer (left) with his father Kerry at a company general meeting in Sydney in 2005
James Packer pictured with his first fiancee Kate Fischer, now known as Tziporah Malkah
Billionaire James Packer steps out with first wife Jodhi Meares at Star City Casino in 2001
James was educated at Cranbrook School at Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and after finishing his Higher School Certificate, went to work as a jackeroo on one of his father’s Northern Territory cattle stations.
He did not attend university because, he has said, he ‘didn’t have the marks’.
Kerry Packer was an imposing figure with whom James had a complicated relationship. The father thought the son was soft.
Author Paul Barry repeats an oft-told anecdote about the father and son in his book Who Wants To Be A Billionaire: The James Packer Story.
Keen to see his son excel at cricket, Kerry had bought a baseball pitching machine from the United States which he set up in the yard of the family’s Bellevue Hill compound.
The machine was capable of hurling balls at more than 190kmh and Kerry expected his 14-year-old son – then known as ‘Jamie’ – to face them.
While James Packer and Jodhi Meares divorced the pair has remained extremely close
Casino mogul James Packer pictured with second wife Erica Baxter in Sydney in 2007
James Packer with mother Ros (left), former wife Erica (to his right) and sister Gretel (far right)
When the machine’s operator turned the pace down for James his father would yell ‘What are you trying to do? Turn the boy into a wuss? He’s a man, he can face it.’
James has always feared failure and his father’s reaction to it.
Five years ago Packer recalled the days before his father’s death in an interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night.
‘He said he loved me, he said he was proud of me,’ Packer told the program.
‘My dad was a larger-than-life character and I’m not going to say every minute or every hour we spent together was a highlight.’
His first major investment disaster came from his involvement with telecommunications company One.Tel along with fellow media heir Lachlan Murdoch.
One.Tel, of which Packer was a director, was declared insolvent in 2001. The collapse of One.Tel cost Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd more than $300million.
Packer later said he had learned a ‘painful lesson’ from the company’s collapse.
One of Packer’s early mentors was businessman Al ‘Chainsaw’ Dunlap who convinced him he should call himself James rather than Jamie if he wanted to be taken seriously.
Upon his father’s death in 2005 Packer assumed control of the family company Consolidated Press Holding and began to move away from the media business into casinos.
For a couple of years a decade ago he was listed as the richest person in Australia.
Billionaire James Packer’s weight has ballooned over the years; he is pictured here in 2003
James Packer and second wife Erica Baxter (both pictured) have two daughters and one son
Billionaire James Packer relaxes on a yacht in the waters off Los Cabos in Mexico last year
Concerned about the viability of free-to-air television, Packer began selling his stake in Channel 9 in 2006, a process completed two years later.
In 2012 he formed a joint-venture film company called RatPac with Hollywood producer Brett Ratner but sold out in April 2017.
He also holds a share in the South Sydney Rabbitohs, making him a business partner of actor Russell Crowe.
Packer’s billions have meant he can maintain luxurious yachts including the former ice-breaker Arctic P and homes around the world.
By 2009 his wealth had dropped to $3billion but by 2013 was back up to $6billion.
Forbes magazine most recently estimated Packer’s wealth at $4.1 billion.
The former playboy’s personal life has seen as many up-and-downs as his business affairs.
Onetime movie investor James Packer walks through New York City in September 2015
Back when he was known as ‘Jamie’, a young James Packer watches tennis with a friend in 1987
He was engaged for two years to model and actor Kate Fischer, from whom he separated in 1998 after a five-year relationship.
He married model Jodhi Meares in a lavish wedding at the family’s Bellevue Hill mansion in 1999 and while the couple separated in 2002 they remain close.
Packer has spoken out in the past about his battles with depression and dealing with the death of his domineering father.
After his marriage to Meares and while associating with actor Tom Cruise, Packer became involved with the Church of Scientology which he said had been ‘helpful’ following the collapse of One.Tel.
He has since distanced himself from the organisation.
In 2007 Packer married another model, Erica Baxter. The couple has three children: daughter Indigo, now nine, son Jackson, 8 and daughter Emmanuelle Sheelah, five.
Packer and Baxter announced their separation in 2013.
Former model, clothing designer and Packer’s first wife Jodhi Meares is still close to the mogul
James Packer’s engagement to singer Mariah Carey (both pictured) did not see out a year
Mariah Carey and James Packer attending an awards night at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York
The following year Packer was photographed in a wild public brawl at Bondi with David Gyngell, his then best friend and head of Channel 9.
Pictures of the fight were on front pages around the country, the combatants were each fined $500 for offensive behaviour and the Packer-Gyngell relationship has never recovered.
Packer next stunned the world by becoming engaged to American songstress Mariah Carey in early 2016. They had broken up by October that year amid acrimony.
Late last year Packer paid Carey a multi-million dollar settlement. He has described the relationship as a mistake for both of them.
Packer’s weight has fluctuated over the years and he has at times been a heavy smoker. He was recently reported to be in a relationship with New York socialite Kylie Lim.
Kerry Packer died of acute kidney failure aged 68. James’s grandfather Frank died aged 67 and his great-grandfather Robert Clyde – known as R.C. Packer – died aged 54.
James Packer has resigned from the board of Crown Resorts citing mental health problems