Gretel Packer Family. Gretel was born in 1966 to father Kerry Packer and mother, Ros Packer. For her education, she went to eastern Sydney Boarding School. Gretel’s father Kerry was the famous face of Australia like Tim Webster. He was one of the powerful businessmen, who had a net worth of Australian 6.5 billion dollars.

The billionaire has been married twice. She was in a relationship with her first husband, Nick Barham, who is a British financier. The pair were residing along with their two kids, Francesca (born in 1996) and Benjamin, (born in 1999) in their new house at Surrey, England. Meares, who was married to Kerry and Ros' son James from 1999 to 2002, says the Packer lifestyle was far removed from the one she was used to. 'James and I came from really opposing lives,' she says. James Douglas Packer (born 8 September 1967) is an Australian billionaire businessman and investor. Packer is the son of Kerry Packer AC, a media mogul, and his wife, Roslyn Packer AC. He is the grandson of Sir Frank Packer.

Mariah Carey is a special snowflake in most areas of her life. She's the queen of Christmas, has a reputation for being a diva, and is generally considered eccentric, which extends into her romantic life as well. Though her demands from now-ex-fiancé James Packer have made headlines, Carey's love life has never exactly been normal. Here are the oddities that we know about.

Her first husband was allegedly hyper-controlling

A Vanity Fair profile of Tommy Mottola and his marriage to Carey was harrowing. Mottola was Carey's record company boss at Sony Music. He was also more than 20 years her senior and married with kids when they met. Sources told Vanity Fair the industry executive often engaged in locker room talk with other record label staff about his intimacies with Carey, who was just 18 years old when they allegedly hooked up.

After Carey and Mottola married, he allegedly kept her cloistered in their mansion with security guards 24/7, even when the songbird went to the bathroom. She had to get his permission to leave the property, and even then she'd have to be shadowed by a 'chase car.' (She later reportedly refered to the home as 'Sing Sing.') Vanity Fair also claimed Mottola told Carey when to sit and stand, including at the Grammy Awards.

Mottola has denied any wrongdoing, but he did admit in his memoir (via Billboard) that it was 'absolutely wrong and inappropriate' to become romantically involved with Carey, adding that he is 'truly sorry for any discomfort or pain that all of my good intentions inevitably caused her, and most of all for the scars it left on my two oldest children.'

Mottola may have tried to sabotage her career after they divorced

Carey and Jennifer Lopez had a longstanding, seemingly one-sided feud that made headlines when Carey infamously quipped, 'I don't know her' when asked about J. Lo. Rumor has it, Mottola played a big role in that beef.

Record producer Irv Gotti explained to XXL magazine (via Fox News) that Mottola attempted to sabotage Carey's Glitter album by pilfering a sample and a song style she intended to use on the record to Lopez. 'Ja [Rule] wrote a song with him and Mariah singing back and forth on the title track,' Gotti said. 'I get a call from Tommy Mottola, who I have a great relationship with, and he's like, 'I need you to do me a favor. I want you to do this remix for Jennifer Lopez. I want you to put Ja on the record.' Immediately I knew what he was doing because we just finished the Mariah record.'

The song was reportedly 'Loverboy,' for which Carey supposedly chose a sample of Yellow Magic Orchestra's 'Firecracker.' The song was reportedly included in viewings of the 2001 movie Glitter, which also starred Carey. A source told Fox News that Mottola was 'surreptitiously viewing footage of Glitter while his ex-wife was shooting it.' Gotti alleged Mottola heard the song, knew Glitter was months away from completion, and passed along the idea to Lopez for her song 'I'm Real.'

'Mariah was so paranoid about the music getting out that we had another singer sing the temporary versions,' the insider told Fox News. 'When Jennifer Lopez's record came out, and had the exact same song, we knew she had a right to be paranoid. We couldn't believe it.'

Additionally, the music publisher of 'Firecracker' told Fox News, 'Mariah Carey called us to license a sample from 'Firecracker' first. Then, within a month, Jennifer Lopez also called for it.'

Mottola denied all of those claims.

She hid her relationship with Derek Jeter

Carey reportedly met New York Yankees baseball star Derek Jeter when she was still legally married to Mottola in 1996. The shortstop and the singer reportedly kept their relationship very quiet, only confirming they'd dated after they split in 1998, well after her divorce from Mottola in 1997. Carey's rep explained to Entertainment Weekly, 'The media pressure became too much for them.'

Her relationship with Luis Miguel may have triggered her breakdown

Many people didn't even know Carey dated singer Luis Miguel for nearly three years. The duo flew far under the media's radar and were reportedly very on-again, off-again. Miguel supposedly inspired much of her 1999 album, Rainbow, and the Daily Mail called him her first truly serious relationship following her divorce from Mottola.

In 2001, when Carey had her infamous 'emotional and physical breakdown,' the Daily Mail suggested it may have been during one of her rough patches with Miguel. During the meltdown, Carey's mother called 911 seeking medical help for injuries her daughter allegedly sustained smashing glasses and dishes during her rage. While the singer was hospitalized to reportedly receive physical and psychiatric treatment, Carey's own publicist claimed Miguel did not visit her.

She refused to acknowledge Eminem

Carey may or may not have moved on with rapper Eminem, depending on which party you ask. Complex reported that Carey and Eminem met up in 2001 to discuss a collaboration for her Charmbracelet album, which ultimately did not make the cut. In 2002, Eminem mentioned Carey twice on The Eminem Show, though neither name-drop was particularly scathing (for him, anyway). In a 2002 Rolling Stone cover story, Eminem confirmed a dalliance had happened, but added, 'I'm not really feeling it. I just don't like her as a person.'

Carey admitted that she and Em hung out, but denied anything romantic. 'Yeah, it happened. Did I have a sexual relationship with him? No, I didn't,' she told Maxim (via TheMariahNetwork.com). 'I knew him, I hung out with him a few times, but nothing sexual occurred. And that's why I was so upset about the whole thing, because I was like, 'Look, if I had an intimate relationship with the person, that would be one thing, but...' Maybe he thought because nothing happened he'd look bad or something.'

Of course, neither party stopped there. Carey shaded him on her tour in 2003 when a marionette in a bleach-blond wig and a Detroit Pistons jersey came out during her performances of 'Clown,' and Eminem played voicemail messages allegedly from Carey during his 2005 tour. Carey's camp said the messages were not from Carey. Em used Carey's name yet again in a few very vulgar lines in his track 'Jimmy Crack Corn' in 2006, and later that year, he told Shade 45 they 'did have a relationship for about a good six, seven months' and said that 'the fact that she denied [they] ever had something' bothered him.

Just when everyone thought it was over, Eminem released 'Bagpipes from Baghdad' in 2009, calling Carey another slew of sexist names and attacking her then-husband Nick Cannon. Cannon responded on his blog (via People), and Carey responded by mocking Eminem in her 'Obsessed' video. Finally, Eminem dropped 'The Warning' in 2010, which goes into graphic detail about yet another encounter that Carey insists didn't happen. She shaded him on Watch What Happens Live in 2014...and hopefully that's the end of all of this, because it's exhausting.

She had a top-secret romance with a producer

Carey reportedly dated record producer Mark Sudack, who worked on her E=MC2 album, from 2004 to early 2008, but next to no one knew about it until they split...and she met Nick Cannon. 'Everyone is scared to call him because no one knows what to say,' a pal of Sudack told Us Weekly (via Today). 'He never thought she would go off and marry someone else. He's heartbroken and shocked.'

She and Nick Cannon moved extremely fast

After just six weeks of dating, Carey and Nick Cannon tied the knot in 2008. She was 39; he was 27. Two years later, they had their beloved twins, Moroccan and Monroe, who they dubbed 'Dem Babies.' The couple seemed blissfully happy until 2014, when Cannon began blabbing about their intimate moments to the press and admitted they were living apart. Carey and Cannon announced their separation in August 2014, and Cannon's own father hinted that Carey's fluctuating weight was a problem. (Excuse him?) The pair filed for divorce in late 2014, but didn't finalize proceedings until late 2016 when Carey intended on marrying billionaire James Packer.

Packer was in a hurry to marry her...then dumped her via the press

Carey received a $7.5 million diamond engagement ring in January 2016 after dating Packer for only eight months, but the pair never made it down the aisle, splitting up in October 2016. Depending on who you ask, the breakup was messy. Sources have blamed Carey's alleged flirtation with backup dancer Bryan Tanaka, Packer's temper, his family allegedly not liking her, their prenup, his Scientology connections, her diva demands, and her reality show. With that many factors at play, the couple may have been doomed from the start, but it gets even worse. People reported that Carey is 'extremely hurt.' Sources told TMZ Packer dumped Carey while they were planning their wedding—she already had a dress, flowers, and flights arranged for guests. Us Weekly said she found out about the split from the press. Ouch.

Sir Douglas Frank Hewson PackerKBE,OStJ (3 December 1906 – 1 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family.

Early life[edit]

Frank Packer was born in Kings Cross, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, to Ethel Maude Packer (née Hewson; 1878–1947) and Robert Clyde Packer (1879–1934), who started the family's association with the media as a journalist in New South Wales. His father, R. C. Packer, became editor of The Sunday Times and was a founder of Smith's Weekly and the Daily Guardian, which was published by Smith's Newspapers Ltd.^[1]

'A mischievous youngster and a poor student', Packer frequently switched schools, attending Turramurra College, Abbotsholme College, Wahroonga Grammar School, and Sydney Church of England Grammar School at various times. He did not sit for the Intermediate Certificate.^[2]

Career[edit]

In 1923, Packer became a cadet journalist on his father's paper, the Daily Guardian.^[1] Four years later, he was a director of the company. In 1933, Packer started The Australian Women's Weekly and then transformed The Daily Telegraph into one of Australia's leading newspapers.

Packer inherited his media interests on his father's death in 1934. In 1936, he joined with Ted Theodore's Sydney Newspapers and Associated Newspapers to form Australian Consolidated Press.^[3] He was chairman of ACP from 1936 until 1974.

When television was introduced to Australia in 1956, Packer, along with the other major newspaper publishers (Fairfax, HWT and David Syme), became a significant television network shareholder under the federal government's 'dual formula', which allowed each capital city to have two commercial networks and one ABC.^[3] He launched the first Australian station to broadcast a regular schedule, TCN in Sydney, which became the nucleus of the Nine Network.

The Packer media empire was known for its conservative leanings, and was a strong backer of long-serving Prime MinisterRobert Menzies.

Packer was a keen yachtsman, boxer, golfer and polo player. He was on the Australian Jockey Club's committee for 12 years and won the Caulfield Cup with his horse, Columnist. He was also chairman of a syndicate that built the yachts Gretel and Gretel II to challenge for the America's Cup in 1962 and 1970.

In 1972, Sir Frank Packer sold his newspaper flagship, The Daily Telegraph, to Rupert Murdoch.

In 1992, journalist Max Walsh told the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Print Media that Frank Packer had exerted undue newsroom influence. 'Sir Frank was knee-deep in [the] editorial policy of the Telegraph', Walsh said.^[4]

Family life[edit]

Frank Packer was married to Gretel Joyce Bullmore (1907–1960) on 24 July 1934 at All Saints Anglican Church, Woollahra. He had two sons, Clyde and Kerry, with his first wife, Gretel. Gretel Packer died in 1960.

Packer married for the second time in June 1964 to Florence Adeline Vincent (née Porges) in London. She died in 2012.^[5]

Death[edit]

On 1 May 1974, Packer died of heart failure, leaving an estate valued at $100 million. On his death he passed his empire to Kerry, as he had fallen out with his elder son Clyde Packer in 1972. He was interred at the Packer family mausoleum at South Head Cemetery.

Kerry Packer Gambler

Honours[edit]

Frank Packer was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the King's Birthday Honours of 1951.^[6]

He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1959, for services to journalism and the newspaper industry.^[7]

In the New Year's Honours of 1971 Sir Frank Packer was promoted within the Order of the British Empire to Knight Commander (KBE), for services to Australian and international yachting.^[8]

Since 1980 the Frank Packer Plate has been conducted at Randwick Racecourse.

He was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1999.

Portrayal in media[edit]

In the 1984 television miniseries Bodyline, Packer, as employer of Donald Bradman, released him from a writing contract so he could play in the 1932–1933 Ashes; he was portrayed by Brian McDermott.

In the 2007 television biopic The King about comedian Graham Kennedy, Packer was portrayed by Australian actor Leo Taylor.

Kerry Packer Cricket Series

In the 2011 television miniseries Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, Packer was portrayed by Australian actor Tony Barry.

In the 2013 television miniseries Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War, Packer was played by Australian actor Lachy Hulme, who had previously portrayed Kerry Packer in Howzat! Kerry Packer's War the previous year.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abConley, D. (2000). The Daily Miracle. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN0-19-554024-7.
2. ^Packer, Sir Douglas Frank (1906–1974), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 15, 2000.
3. ^ ^abHenningham, J. (2000). Institutions in Australian Society. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. p. 282. ISBN0-19-551050-X.
4. ^House of Representatives Select Committee on the Print Media 1992, News and Fair Facts: The Australian Print Media Industry, Report, AGPS, Canberra, p. 263
5. ^Hornery, Andrew (29 December 2012). 'Genteel society loses a Packer'. smh.com.au. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
6. ^It's an Honour: CBE
7. ^It's an Honour: Knight Bachelor
8. ^It's an Honour: KBE

Kerry Packer Las Vegas

Further reading[edit]

• Whitington, R. S. (1971). Sir Frank – The Frank Packer Story. Cassell Australia. ISBN0-3049-3997-8.
• Griffen-Foley, Bridget (2000). Sir Frank Packer: The Young Master. Harper Collins. ISBN0-7322-6422-7.
• Griffen-Foley, Bridget (2014). Sir Frank Packer: a biography. Sydney University Press. ISBN9781743323823.

What Did Kerry Packer Die Of