Gretel Packer rises out of the shadow Gretel Packer and Erica Packer / Pic: Supplied Source: The Daily Telegraph FOR almost 50 years, Kerry Packer's only daughter Gretel has been one of the great mystery women of Sydney. From birth, the firstborn child of Packer and his wife Roslyn was an enigma. Hidden away in private schools from an early age, Gretel grew up shy and socially awkward until, as an adult, she became as fiercely private as her father and inaccessible. Some say that for the past decade, she has even chosen to live a reclusive life while raising her three children alone. Today, thanks to a new love, a wonderful thaw seems to be taking place. Gretel looks happier. She looks relaxed. She looks confident. She looks - as 120 gawking socialites observed at a Crown Casino ladies' lunch in Sydney last month - fantastic. Those in the know say the catalyst for this change is new love but, importantly, this love comes not from a man but from a woman. Gretel Packer, 47, is throwing off her insecurities and her anxieties, even shelving the shyness that has plagued her since youth, with the support and encouragement of a woman who backs her and believes in her. The big surprise is that the woman is not her mother, to whose side she has for so long been glued in social situations, but sister-in-law Erica, wife of billionaire casino-owning brother James. As was obvious to all in the room at Guillaume at Bennelong last month, Gretel has also emerged from the pall that has hung over her for the past seven years since the shock death of her adored father and, a year later, the end of her disastrous second marriage to bohemian astrologist Shane Murray. A wallflower no more, she strode powerfully into the swanky lunch dressed head to toe in Prada, a statement brand synonymous with luxury tailoring worn by affluent, confident, intellectual women, and fitting the revitalised Gretel Packer to a tee. The effect of Gretel's transformation on a room full of impressively well-heeled women - television personalities, magazine editors, monied socialites from Sydney and Melbourne - was immediate and stunning. The woman who usually shuns the spotlight looked every bit the glamorous heiress the room had been waiting for. A source close to the family said in Erica, Gretel has found the sister she has long needed. "They have a wonderful relationship," said one close observer. Eri knows what it is to come from a close family. She knows how a positive relationship with a sister can help build a woman's confidence and self esteem. She also knows that women exude confidence when they look beautiful so she is encouraging Gretel to pamper herself. The wonderful thing is that Gretel, who was taught early to be wary of people, is trusting her. Being born a woman meant Gretel, who once dabbled with the idea of becoming a media executive in the Packer empire, was destined to live life on the sidelines, detached from the family business. The death of Erica's own mother Sheelah 15 months ago, and the expansion of her brood from two to three after that death, has also galvanised the women's relationship. In this area it was Gretel who had life experience to offer for she too had lost a beloved father while pregnant. Now, with former model Erica helping her rediscover herself, Gretel has also found her relationship with brother James is blossoming. The pair are usually regarded as close but weren't always so, with parenthood and a desire for each other's children to be close proving a great healer.