It’s over! Mariah’s wedding is off – but is her ex to blame?
The engagement’s off – is her relationship with her ex to blame?
Terrible news, everyone: Mariah Carey and billionaire James Packer are officially over, and we’ll never get to see her amazing, $20m three-cities wedding, due to take place later this year, with $4k bottles of wine and dinner flown in from Australia.
Reports claimed it was Mariah’s spending that broke the pair up, but heat can reveal that the singer’s close relationship to her ex, Nick Cannon, was the final straw after months of rows.
“The problem was that because they’re so close, and co-parent their twins [Monroe and Moroccan] together, Mariah and Nick look publicly like they’re still a family, and still in love – and it drove James nuts,” says our insider. “She kept reassuring him it was because Nick is the father of her kids, but James still found it hard. They seemed a bit too chummy. Then he saw how sexed-up she was for her Halloween party that Nick attended and he got really annoyed and decided to end things.”
Mariah and James got together in July 2014, and he proposed with a $10m ring in January this year. But while the pair were planning their wedding (the one that saw Mariah lose loads of weight on her “bleak diet” of mainly white fish) there was always one problem: Mariah’s divorce from Nick. To date, he still hasn’t signed the papers, and insiders say it was a red flag for James. “He blamed Mariah because she hadn’t pushed Nick to sign,” says the friend. “He thinks Nick still loves Mariah, no matter what he says. James is used to being the king of a relationship.”
The insider says the reports that Mariah spent too much of James’s $3.4bn fortune was nonsense, especially as he bought them his-and-hers yachts. “James just had no idea how to handle Mariah,” we’re told. “She was unimpressed by James’ wallet – she’s worth £520m and has always been a big spender.” Apparently, she’s keeping the $10m ring. As you would.
In the end, our insider says, they were just badly matched – James hated her upcoming reality show, Mariah’s World, and “they had little in common. They were hot and heavy at the start, but the infatuation could only last so long before the reality of their differences set in. James is a serious guy, who likes obedience. He was never going to get that with Mariah.”