Just when you think you know a superstar like Mariah Carey, everything changes!
“Thirty years into an epic career,” opens journalist Allison P. Davis in a new profile of the superstar for New York Magazine‘s Vulture vertical, “Mariah Carey is still trying to explain herself.” And along the way in this fall preview feature piece first published on Monday morning, the Dreamlover singer explains everything else, too!
Related: Celebrate Mariah Carey’s 50th Birthday With Her Five Most Iconic Music Videos!
It’s hard to believe it’s been thirty years since Carey’s music first came out, but 15 studio albums and 34 Grammy noms later, here we are! Now, the superstar songstress is opening up the vault a little bit while promoting her upcoming project MC30, which includes never-before-seen footage, an album of previously-unreleased songs and demos, and even an upcoming memoir!
Oh, and along with all THAT, the All I Want For Christmas Is You icon has a LOT to say about it… and about her career, her love life, her family, and much more! Ch-ch-check out some of the highlights from this brand new, feature-length Vulture interview (below)!
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Ellen DeGeneres
As the interviewer recalls, Mariah was recently dragged into the Ellen DeGeneres drama after a 2008 clip resurfaced. During a time when rumors swirled about a possible Mimi pregnancy, DeGeneres challenged the songbird to drink champagne — essentially forcing her to prematurely confirm. Mariah miscarried soon after. Looking back, she shared:
“I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say. And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath. I wasn’t ready to tell anyone because I had had a miscarriage. I don’t want to throw anyone that’s already being thrown under any proverbial bus, but I didn’t enjoy that moment.”
Carey goes on to say that there’s “an empathy that can be applied to those moments that I would have liked to have been implemented. But what am I supposed to do? It’s like, [sings] ‘What are you going to do?'”
Eminem
We all know Eminem was reportedly “stressed” over what Mariah might say about their rumored 2001 fling in her book, but apparently he doesn’t have to worry.
“There’s some songs that I can sing in response to that, but I will not do it. If somebody or something didn’t pertain to the actual meaning of Mariah Carey, as is the title, then they aren’t in the book.”
ZING!!! Sorry, Slim Shady!
“Oppressive” Tommy Mottola
We’ve always known the friction between Mariah and her record executive ex-husband Tommy Mattola, but she’s ready to tell her own story. The interviewer states that the Glitter star’s anxiety is palpable during their discussion of the relationship which started when he signed her at 19. In the nearly 300-page book, Mimi writes candidly about security cameras she felt were watching her every move. She remembered, “[Tommy] was like this oppressive humidity”.
The entire recollection of their marriage (Mariah was 23 and Tommy was 43 at the time of their union) brought the recording artist to tears during Allison’s pre-interview Zoom. Carey shared that speaking of him “ignites the triangle in my stomach.”
In his own 2013 memoir, Hitmaker: The Man and His Music, Mottola denied being controlling but did call their involvement “wrong and inappropriate”. It was strongly speculated that Tommy used his influence to knock her music, allegedly boosting a J.Lo and Ja Rule duet to mess with her.
Suggesting she could have painted her ex in a MUCH MORE unflattering light after finding out about his sabotage, she shared:
“It’s out there. I could have gone harder. And I didn’t. I give him credit where credit is due.”
Raising Dem Babies
On giving her children (with ex Nick Cannon), Moroccan and Monroe, a better life than she had growing up:
“They’re not running around with matted locks. They know that I’m here for them. They know that if they want to talk with their father, he’s a phone call away. They have stability. That’s what I didn’t have. They will never have a holiday that’s not happy unless something I can’t do anything about happens. They understand that they are Black. They have a whole lot of self-esteem and self-worth that I never had. And I probably still don’t now. I know that I still don’t.'”
Estranged Siblings
On her “ex-brother,” Morgan, and her estranged sister Alison, she shared:
“Alison and Morgan both believed I had it easier than they did… Here’s the thing: They have been ruthlessly just heartless in terms of dealing with me as a human being for most of my life. I never would have spoken about my family at all had they not done it first.”
The Christmas icon apparently hasn’t spoken to Alison since 1994, though she has a relationship with the son her sis had at 15. She constantly worries her siblings will go to tabloids or see her as an “ATM machine with a wig” — which is really accurate, considering her sister just made headlines for accusing their mother of forcing her into sexual acts and satanic rituals growing up.
When asked if she’d ever reconcile, Mariah shared:
“I have forgiveness in my heart, and so I forgive them, but I am not trying to invite anybody to come hang out over here. I think they’re very broken, and I feel sad for them.”
Wow…
Growing Up As Multi-Racial
On being a light-skinned Black woman in the music industry, Mimi acknowledges her privilege:
“The truth is I will never say I had the same experience as a darker-skinned.”
She goes on to share how being different made her feel like an outcast within the Black community:
“Having a white mother, and being forced to live in white neighborhoods, and feeling ashamed that there is nobody visibly Black there … and I’m being so real right now that I want to edit myself. Believe you me, I’m not thrilled to be this skin tone all the time. How was I supposed to fit in? I was, like, the only one that’s this weird mutant, mutt — using an antiquated phrase that I’m not asking anyone else to ever use again, but I’m embracing it — mulatto girl. I’m not even embracing it. It’s a horrible way of defining somebody. It actually means ‘mule.'”
Carey also acknowledges the industry divide she created by being presented as non-Black:
“[It] distanced me from the comfort of support and protection from some Black people. Which is an even deeper kind of a pain, pile of pain, if that makes sense. It’s been a lot.”
What. A. Profile!
What’d U think, Perezcious readers?? Still stanning this music icon, or what?! And that passage about Ellen, especially in light of all the TV host has been through the last few months… YIKES!!!
She discusses plenty more beyond what’s in these blurbs, too; to read the full Vulture feature, CLICK HERE. Let us know where you’re at on this one! Sound OFF with your take on everything Mariah down in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via Apega/WENN/Avalon/Instar]
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