Billionaire James Packer says ‘money is not a guarantee of happiness’ but having it is better than the alternative.
‘I would prefer to be rich and unhappy than to try and be poor and unhappy,’ Mr Packer, 56, said in the promo for a longer interview to be aired on Channel Seven show Spotlight on Sunday night.
Mr Packer, who revealed earlier this year that he fights a constant battle with his weight because of medication he takes for bipolar disorder, appeared emotional when talking to the Seven interviewer.
‘You are not interviewing someone who’s saying to you I’ve got it worked out, I’ve got all the answers, I’m not that person, I’m not that person,’ Mr Packer said.
Along for the ride during the interview filmed on his $200million superyacht was British pop star Robbie Williams who according to the upcoming program has a ‘special friendship’ with Mr Packer.
‘The same sort of illness that we share, it is a disease of isolation,’ Williams said.
Mr Packer has revealed he lives part of the year on the yacht, named IJE after the initials of his children, when he fled Sydney after high-profile inquiries into the operations of Crown casinos in Melbourne and Perth.
He told the Daily Telegraph in July he has houses in America, Mexico, Argentina and Israel – along with an apartment in Crown Sydney – and travels between them.
‘I do live a peripatetic life, for better or worse,’ he said.
‘The truth is, my dad’s (legendary Nine media mogul Kerry Packer) shadow became too big for me to live under in .’
Mr Packer’s former partner Erica is now living in London with the couple’s three children.
During the Cannes Film Festival in May, Mr Packer went public for the first time with model girlfriend Renée Blythewood.
In photos shared to Instagram, Renée smiled alongside the mega-wealthy businessman as they posed for a picture with a group of friends on the red carpet.
The pair reportedly enjoyed a string of low-key dinners together during their time in Cannes.
Since divesting most of his Crown shares, Mr Packer has invested heavily in tech and owns a $1billion stake in US AI groundbreaker Nvidia.
His wealth was last year estimated to be around $4.5billion, making him ‘s 18th richest person on the n Financial Review’s rich list.
Mr Packer was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016.
For the Spotlight interview the Seven crew travelled to the French Polynesian island of Bora Bora, where Mr Packer’s yacht was moored.