Mariah Carey got “extraordinarily honest” in her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, according to The Guardian, but there are some noteworthy exclusions from her tell-all. For example, nowhere in her new book does she mention her short-lived love affair with Australian billionaire James Packer. “If it was a relationship that mattered, it’s in the book. If not, it didn’t occur,” Mariah told The Guardian when asked why she didn’t talk about James, 53, in her memoir. When the publication brought up that they were engaged, Mariah responded, “We didn’t have a physical relationship, to be honest with you.”
That’s all Mariah had to say about that. Mariah and James first met in 2014 when producer Brett Ratner invited her to the premiere of the action film Hercules. A year later, the two of them were spotted holding hands in Capri, Italy. They made their red-carpet debut in September 2015 at the premiere of The Intern, and at the start of 2016, he proposed to her in New York City. Mariah was given a 35-carat Wilfredo Rosado-designed engagement ring (worth an estimated $10 million), and it seemed like Mariah was headed to the altar for the third time.
However, the couple reportedly had a fight during a trip to Mykonos, Greece. By October of that year, the split was official. Even though they were never married, the couple reportedly agreed to a multi-million dollar “settlement” agreement in 2017. Mariah supposedly wanted some financial compensation for uprooting her life from New York to Los Angeles. A few months before the deal was finalized, Mariah called her ex a “motherf-cker,” and that she didn’t know – or seemed to care – where he was.
While Mariah didn’t bring up James in her new book, she got candid about her relationship with Nick Cannon in The Meaning of Mariah Carey. Specifically, Mariah spoke about how starting a family with Nick put a strain on their marriage. “It was a lot of work and a lot of having to be home and available. Making the necessary adjustments to being working parents in entertainment took its toll on our relationship, and the end of our marriage came fast, as it began,” she wrote. Nick and Mariah married in 2008, welcomed Moroccan and Monroe in 2011, and, unfortunately, separated in 2014. Their split was finalized in 2016.
“Honestly, I think Nick and I could have worked it out between the two of us, but egos and emotions got inflamed (which can translate into many billable lawyer hours, and ultimately, it did,” wrote Mariah, before adding how she and Nick will “always be family, and we will make it work.”