Mariah Carey has thanked her Australian fans for paying no attention to a local tabloid story about her separation from fiance James Packer.

The Heartbreaker singer hit headlines late on Wednesday (26Oct16) after editors at Woman's Day Down Under alleged she had split from Australian billionaire Packer.

Sources claimed Mariah's excessive spending sprees and her upcoming reality TV show had contributed to the break-up, but her representative dismissed the claims on Thursday (27Oct16) as she addressed the rumours, admitting the superstar and Packer were taking some time apart to figure out what their future holds.

On Saturday (29Oct16), Mariah returned to the spotlight as she enjoyed a night out in Los Angeles with pals, including her back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka, whose close friendship with the hitmaker was said to have been a source of contention with Packer.

Mariah wore a sexy little black dress for the outing and kept her engagement ring on, although she had moved the huge 35-carat sparkler to the middle finger of her right hand.

She was photographed both arriving at, and leaving, hotspot Catch with Tanaka, while inside the venue, the singer posed for a photo with a female friend.

"#realfriends who don't read Woman's Day," she captioned the image on Instagram, adding, "#wedontknowyou".

She then gave a shout out to her followers Down Under for continuing to show their support by writing, "We love you #Australianlambs (fans)".

The picture marked Mariah's return to social media after the news of her romantic troubles first emerged.

The 46-year-old beauty has not seen Packer since cutting short a vacation in Greece in September (16), but her publicist made it clear the couple's fight "was not because of any cheating allegations or excessive spending by Mariah".

The statement, issued to Entertainment Tonight, continued, "They are trying to work it out. Right now, they're not sure if they will stay together. They are discussing it, and plan to release an official statement together about their future."

Mariah began dating James in June, 2015 and the businessman proposed during a private dinner in New York in January (16).

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