Host Michael Usher fronted what should be one of the most-watched episodes of Seven’s Sunday night progam Spotlight last night.
Just a few months ago the future of the show was under a cloud. The Spotlight founding executive producer Mark Llewellyn had departed. So had controversial reporter Taylor Auerbach.
Seven decided to keep the program and rebuild its reputation. It hired former Nine producer Gemma Williams to steer the ship. Host Usher stayed on as did star reporter Liam Bartlett.
See also: Seven hires new Spotlight executive producer
Williams, Bartlett and Usher were all key ingredients in the James Packer interview episode which screened last night.
Coincidentally, the interview with Packer was screened on his 57th birthday. A birthday he also shares with his friend Lachlan Murdoch. Although Murdoch is four years younger.
Michael Usher started the Spotlight episode: “A billionaire could have anything in common with you and your family, but that’s the thing about mental illness, it affects everyone. In fact, one in five of us are suffering with anxiety or depression. And while it feels like we talk about mental health more than we used to, those stories of hope, that light at the end of the tunnel, aren’t always there.
“Tonight, we’ll introduce you to some people who’ve been to the brink. John Brogdon is one of them. The former politician, now president of Lifeline, fought his way back from a very dark place, and has now brought together billionaires, battlers, and all sorts of everyday Australians to tell us their inspiring stories.
“We begin with James Packer.”
Reporter Liam Bartlett then introduced his interview with James Packer. The segment started with drone shots of Packer’s luxury yacht, moored in an exotic waterway in French Polynesia, close to Tahiti.
“It’s fair to say anyone living aboard this boat expects little in the way of sympathy. But that’s the point about mental illness.
“So, James, thanks so much for doing this.”
James Packer will open up about his mental health battles with Liam Bartlett for an episode of 7News Spotlight.
Spotlight interview: Liam Bartlett with James Packer
James Packer: My pleasure. Really nice of you to have the conversation.
It’s known in the community that I’ve had mental health issues, and so I’m not hiding from it. When John approached me to be part of his book [about mental health], his pitch to me was, if by sharing your experiences you can help a few people, even if it’s one person, that’s a positive thing to do. And I think that if this interview can help one person, you know, that would be a good thing.
Liam Bartlett: John goes one step further than that, doesn’t he? Because he makes a point of saying that he admires your courage for sharing your thoughts on mental illness and suicidal thoughts so openly and authentically.
James Packer: Well, I think that’s very nice of John, and they’re John’s words. Listen, Liam, I’m not here to play the victim. I think I’m a very fortunate person.
Liam Bartlett voiceover: As the son of legendary media mogul Kerry Packer, 57-year-old James’s mental health journey began with his first big step out of his father’s shadow while still in his 20s. He and friend Lachlan Murdoch went all in on a telecommunications company called OneTel. It was a financial disaster.
James Packer: I had a breakdown after OneTel went broke. My marriage broke up. It was a long time ago now, but it was on the front page of the papers every day. It felt like the biggest story.
Voiceover: One of Australia’s highest profile marriages is over. James and Jodie Packer have split less than three years after their multi-million dollar society wedding.
Voiceover: His first marriage to Jodie Mears ended, and his father bailed him out. James Packer’s lifelong mental health battle began.
Liam Bartlett:What does deep depression look like to you?
James Packer: Well, I think it’s different for every person.
Liam Bartlett: How does it manifest for you?
James Packer: Well, I mean, for me, I thought, you know, that there are times that I’ve thought that I was going to go bankrupt, and I thought that, you know, that’s an old saying, you know, shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. And I mean bankrupt. I don’t mean, you know, still owning a house. Not [having] enough to look after mum.
The horror of that, when I was, going 100 miles an hour on Crown, I owed a lot of money. I owed more money than I should have allowed myself to be in a position to owe. So I had to pledge everything.
Voiceover: The Crown Casino bid marched James down the road to his next mental breakdown.
James Packer: Looking back, I definitely went into mania in 2013. And when you’re in mania, well, this is my truth anyway, when I’ve been in mania, I feel at my best and I’m probably at my most unreasonable. And that, as I look back, that probably cost me my marriage with Erica.
And I was probably in mania for a couple of years.
Voiceover: The shock split of billionaire James Packer and his wife Erica. A short time ago, the couple released a statement which says it is with great sadness that Erica and James Packer announced their separation.
Liam Bartlett: So should you have spoken to more people earlier? A therapist of some description?
James Packer: Listen, I think I was pretty uncontrollable. I think that, to be honest, I don’t think that I would have been easy to…
Liam Bartlett: You mean you weren’t listening to advice?
James Packer: I wasn’t listening to advice.
Voiceover: For the manic James, these were the Hollywood years. He was a partner in production house Rat Pack, mixing with Tinseltown A-listers and dating Mariah Carey.
Liam Bartlett: Were there other lifestyle choices? I mean, did some of that other negative thinking in your depressive moments, did that lead to substance abuse, for example?
James Packer: I don’t want to go too much into that. I mean, I drank too much and, you know, did things I shouldn’t have done.
Yes is the answer to that. I’m sure that played a role in some of my mental health challenges, no doubt. I felt very guilty for my marriage to Erica not working and I was self-destructive.
She deserved better than I gave and I became self-destructive.
Singer Robbie Williams also joined Bartlett and Packer for part of the Spotlight episode
Voiceover: And there were headwinds. James’ debt was ballooning. His Macau casino shares halved and his sister, Gretel, demanded her share of their father’s estate.
James sold off assets and borrowed more, much of it personally guaranteed. It proves again and again that money can’t buy you happiness.
James Packer: Money is not a guarantee of happiness, but neither is poverty. Neither is poverty. I would prefer to be rich and unhappy than to try and be poor and unhappy.
I think my downs coincided with either being on the wrong medication or having too much stress at work. And when I say too much stress at work, that’s code for too much debt and problems with the business. So either, business turning down or, you know, royal commissions or being tossed out of China … something had gone wrong.
I had people arrested in China. I was caught up in charges in Israel with, you know, Netanyahu. And that same week literally was the week that it came out that I was engaged to Mariah Carey for a while.
And that same week it came out that Mariah and I had broken up and she thought I’d planted the story in a magazine about it, which I hadn’t, that made her look bad. She was threatening to say things about me.
It was a train wreck. I’ve had a lot on my mind.
Voiceover: It was a period that took James to breaking point.
James Packer: I had a hallucination. I was sober.
Liam Bartlett: Do you remember what it was?
James Packer: I’m too embarrassed to even say what it was. But when I had this hallucination, I resigned off all of my company boards, called my mother and said, ‘Mum, you’ve got to…’ I was in Mexico. I said, ‘Mum, you’ve got to come and help me.’
Voiceover: James spent two weeks at Harvard University’s renowned McLean Hospital and for the second time was diagnosed as bipolar.
James Packer: I think the drugs that they prescribed me, frankly, were worse than whatever I was suffering. The latest psychiatrist I worked with told me I was bipolar, told me I was OCD and told me I was PTSD.
They told me I was all three. But when I was just being told I was bipolar, my truth was that my doctors would do anything to make sure I wasn’t in mania. And as long as I wasn’t in mania, they were happy.
Voiceover: To blunt the extremes of mood that come with the manic phase of bipolar disorder, James has been through a medication merry-go-round.
Liam Bartlett: The worst drug that I was on, I was put on Lithium in 2022, and within two weeks, I was a zombie. I was a complete zombie. You compare things like Psilocybin and Ketamine to Lithium.
My experience is, having worked with psychiatrists in Israel, in Argentina, in America and all sorts of places, is if you get put on the wrong drugs … It can be just as bad as the other one. It can be worse.
Liam Bartlett: Can I ask, are you on something now?
James Packer: Yes, I’m on something. I’m really embarrassed when I’m about to…I have a nurse that travels with me. I couldn’t tell you what I’m on because I’m on a bunch of things, and someone does it for me.
Liam Bartlett: What about the other medications, like Ozempic or Wegovy?
James Packer: Yeah, , I’m on it, and I’m putting on weight. I’m eating a lot of sugar.
Liam Bartlett: You don’t drink, do you?
James Packer: I’m not drinking.
Liam Bartlett: How do you get all the sugar?
James Packer: It’s just truckloads of sugar. Truckloads of sugar. [Like chocolate biscuits?] Yeah, everything like that. Don’t make me feel bad.
I’m not trying to make you feel bad.
Liam Bartlett: I’m not trying to make you feel bad.
James Packer: I think I’m mentally a lot better than I was six months ago. I went into mania in 2022, and then from 2022 until mid 2023 I was on Lithium. I lost the weight, but mentally I wasn’t great.
Since then I’ve put the weight on, but I’ve been mentally better. For me, it’s a journey. You’re not interviewing someone who’s saying to you, I’ve got it worked out and I’ve got all the answers. I’m doing my best. I’m a work in progress.
James Packer on Scientology and Tom Cruise
James Packer: I became a Scientologist. Scientology helped me for a period of time. Scientology helped me deal with my mental health issues.
I’m no longer a member of the Church of Scientology. You know, I was good friends with Tom Cruise. It’s Tom’s choice, not mine, that we’re not friends anymore.
I’ll never say a bad word about him. He was a wonderful friend to me. He is an amazing person.
Voiceover: The other Hollywood legend to help James in a crisis was Warren Beatty.
James Packer: Well, he’s a wonderful man, Warren Beatty, and he is a wonderful friend to me. I saw him recently.
I lived in his guesthouse for about two or three years, and he really was wonderful to me. And when I was unwell, he tried to help me, and I’ve been very lucky.
I’ve come across some amazing people in my life. You know, for whatever reason, I’ve crossed paths with a series of amazing people.
Spotlight on James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch
James Packer: Lachlan and I share the same birthday, September the 8th, except he’s four years younger than me. And he had a birthday party for about 30 people, and I wasn’t expecting it. The last thing in the world I was expecting was an invitation to this birthday party.
Not only does Lachlan invite me to the party, he gets to the party, and he makes this speech, and he says, during the speech, he says, I also want to say it’s James’s birthday.
That’s lovely. I’ve never forgotten it. It’s one of the nicest things the man’s ever done.
James Packer’s message about mental health
I guess one of the messages that I like to try and convey to people is try and keep going. If you’re depressed, try and keep going. Try and keep going.
I worry that people are over-medicated. Try and do a little bit of exercise. Try and keep going.
Reach out if it becomes too overwhelming. I’ve been very lucky when it’s been too overwhelming for me. For me, it was hugely important to have a couple of people that I could turn to in the darkest hours at different stages in my life.
I was given a second chance at life. You can really be lost in the fog. You just can’t see a foot in front of you.
Spotlight finished with a note that John Brogden’s book Profiles in Hope is out this week and all the royalties earned will go to Lifeline.