Mariah Carey opens up
Singer-songwriter Mariah Carey seemingly has it all. But in a new interview with "CBS Sunday Morning" anchor Jane Pauley, Carey said it wasn't always that way. She opens up about her childhood struggles, her marriage to Tommy Mottola, her new memoir, and her fans, in a profile to be broadcast Sunday, September 27.
Throughout the extreme challenges she faced, Carey said she was always focused on music and success.
"I always knew that I would do this, and it was just a matter of when it was going to happen," Carey told Pauley. "Because I came from, you know, a broken and dysfunctional family, without money or things that most people had."
Carey, the youngest member of an interracial family, was three when her parents divorced. She lived with her mother, a trained opera singer, though they lived in near-poverty. She told Pauley she felt like an outsider, which she dealt with in her songs. "Because when someone is visually ambiguous like myself … there's a lot of different misconceptions that come with that," Carey said.
Carey also talked with Pauley about how her classmates treated her, including a sleepover with a clique of middle school girls that turned ugly: "I was so excited and innocently thinking this is going to be great. And then, you know, I just felt utterly betrayed because they cornered me, in order to – just completely derail me and use words we don't say."
Carey told Pauley she deals with a lot of issues in her book, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" (Andy Cohen Books), that she's never talked about before, even with her closest friends.
Of her 1993 marriage to Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola, Carey said she "did not have any power in that relationship."
She was 23 and he was 44 when they married. They divorced five years later.
"I was a kid in his world, and I just kept making money for the company," Carey said. "Just kept going in and making records and making records and writing songs and, you know, feeding the machine. And I was living a dream, but it was also a nightmare."
In a wide-ranging interview, Carey also talked about songwriting, her movie "Glitter," her personal 9/11 story, and that connection she has with her fans.
"There's no way to describe the relationship that I have with my fans," Carey said of the "Lambs" (as they're called). "And no, it is not lip service. It is genuine gratitude for them, and for them validating my existence."
For more info:
mariahcarey.com"The Meaning of Mariah Carey" by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis (Andy Cohen Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available September 29 via Amazon"Mariah Carey: The Rarities" (Sony Legacy), available October 2 on CD (Amazon, Barnes & Noble), Digital Download (iTunes) and Streaming (Spotify)Follow Maria Carey on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube
The Emmy Award-winning "Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on CBSN [beginning at 9 a.m. ET] and CBS All Access, and is available on cbs.com and On Demand.
Be sure to follow us at cbssundaymorning.com, and on Twitter (@CBSSunday), Facebook, and Instagram (#CBSSundayMorning).
How many of Florida's felons will be able to vote in the swing state?
Jackie Robinson, George Shuba, and the "handshake of the century"
