James Packer and Mariah Carey confirm engagement - 22nd January 2016

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by Andrew Hornery

Australian casino billionaire James Packer has become engaged to his girlfriend of six months Mariah Carey.

While no date has been announced, friends confirmed to PS that Packer proposed to his pop star girlfriend in New York on Thursday night. The couple are said to be "elated" at the prospect of "spending the rest of their lives together".

Sources close to the Packer family told PS: "the family is overjoyed that they have found each other. Mariah has made James a very happy man, she is a very special person and the family wholeheartedly approves."

According to a report on E! News: "Mariah's future hubby popped the big question in her hometown tonight, and he presented her with what can only be described as the most breathtaking engagement ring.

"We're told that Mariah's new diamond bling comes in at around 35 carats and that no wedding date has been set just yet."

Carey and Packer, the celebrity coupling dubbed "Jamiah", first took their relationship public in June when they were photographed vacationing on the Italian Riviera. The pair kissed and cuddled in full view of the ever-present paparazzi who follow the American singer around the globe.

On New Year's Eve, Carey spoke of her feelings for Packer in front of a crowded auditorium before launching into a concert and singing a collection of her hits.

Carey said: "Spectacular, handsome ... I don't even have words for the man who introduced me tonight. We'll just say the amazing Mr. James Packer."

It will be Mr Packer's third wedding, having previously been married to swimsuit model Jodhi Meares and then to former fashion model Erica Baxter, with whom he has three children, Indigo, 7, Jackson, 5 and Emmanuelle, 3.

It will also be the the third trip down the aisle for Carey. Her first husband was music producer Tommy Mottola whom she married in 1993, though they separated by 1997. Carey met her second husband, fledgling hip hop artist and comedian Nick Canon on the shoot of her music video for Bye Bye in 2008, they soon married and had fraternal twins Monroe and Moroccan in 2011. However by August 2014 the couple had filed for divorce.

Meanwhile Carey and Packer reportedly met at a movie premiere in Aspen in 2014. As Mariah told American talk show host Steve Harvey last November: "We were talking and laughing and people were getting mad at us and stuff like that. So, we hit it off." Harvey noted that Packer was a "lucky" guy, to which the singer replied, "I'm lucky too."

During the appearance she also showed off the $500,000 diamond necklace Packer had bought her from high end jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels.

The jet-setting pair have set a cracking pace as their "caravan of love" has traversed the globe, from Macau to Sydney, Las Vegas to Aspen and New York to Portofino.

Packer even took Carey to the Western Wall in Israel. An insider told E! at the time: "There is only one place at the Western Wall where men and woman can stand together and it was meaningful for him to take her there so that they could share this very intimate moment as a couple."

Another source added, "It was more a spiritual journey then anything. He is aware Carey has the world at her fingertips but he likes to find things that she has never experienced."

Next month, Carey will start the third leg of her sell out Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace, before embarking on a world tour. Packer is expected to join her for most of her dates.

(The Sydney Morning Herald)