James Packer

• Packer publicly identified himself as having bipolar disorder while giving evidence to the New South Wales inquiry into Crown Resorts in 2020. He said he was being treated for the condition at the time; ABC News described the testimony as apparently the first time he had expressly confirmed the diagnosis publicly. [1]
• In a 2024 Spotlight interview, Packer discussed the diagnosis in more detail. The program reported that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder twice, including after a period of treatment at McLean Hospital, and Packer said that a later psychiatrist also diagnosed him with bipolar disorder. [2]

• Packer has described periods in which his mental health significantly affected his functioning. In a 2024 interview, he recalled experiencing a hallucination while sober during a period of severe distress. He said the experience led him to resign from all of his company boards and ask his mother to come and help him. [2]
• He also said that he experienced mania in 2022. During the 2020 Crown inquiry, Packer was questioned about threatening emails he had sent to another businessman in 2015. He called his conduct “shameful” and “disgraceful” and said that his medical state was reflected in his behaviour at the time. [2][1]

• Packer has described receiving psychiatric treatment in several countries and spending two weeks at McLean Hospital in the United States. During the 2020 Crown inquiry, he said he had been taking prescribed medication since 2016 and believed it had impaired his ability to remember past events. [2][1]
• In 2024, Packer said he had taken lithium from 2022 until mid-2023 and described its effects on him as severe, saying it left him feeling like a “complete zombie.” He said he was still taking psychiatric medication at the time of the interview and that a nurse travelled with him; he could not say exactly what medications he was taking. [2]

• In 2024, Packer said he was “mentally a lot better” than he had been six months earlier. He contrasted this with the period from 2022 to mid-2023, when he said he had been taking lithium and was not doing well mentally. [2]
• Describing his progress as ongoing, Packer said, “For me, it’s a journey” and called himself “a work in progress.” [2]

• Packer has supported mental-health research through philanthropy. In 2023, he and the Packer Family Foundation donated $7 million to UNSW Sydney to establish the James Packer Chair in Mood Disorders and fund a research team focused on mood disorders, including bipolar disorder. [3]
• Packer said he was a “passionate advocate” for improving mental-health outcomes and hoped the research would improve the lives of people experiencing mental-health problems. In 2024, he also spoke publicly about his own mental health as part of a Spotlight program connected with John Brogden’s Profiles in Hope campaign. [2][3]

“I think that if this interview can help one person, you know, that would be a good thing.”

— James Packer [2]