Who is Mariah Carey?
Mariah Carey is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She is widely known for her remarkable vocal range. With hits songs like “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry”, Mariah Carey holds the record for most No. 1 debuts in Billboard Hot 100 History. She is also referred to as the “Songbird Supreme”.
Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970, in Huntington, New York, United States. She is 52 years old as of January 2023. Mariah’s name is derived from the song “They Call the Wind Maria” which is originally from the 1951 Broadway musical “Paint Your Wagon”. According to reports, Mariah’s last name “Carey” was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Francisco Núnez after he immigrated to New York.
About Mariah Carey’s parents
Mariah Carey was born to Alfred Roy Carey (father) and Patricia Carey (mother). Her parents met in 1960 and got married despite Patricia’s family forbidding the marriage. According to reports, racial tensions prevented them from fully integrating into their community. They both endured judgment and hostility while living together as an interracial couple.
Carey’s parents ended up getting divorced when she was three years old. After that, Mariah Carey lived with her mother while her older siblings lived with their dad. After the divorce, Mariah Carey had little contact with her father. Sadly, he passed away on July 4, 2002.
About Mariah Carey’s father- Alfred Roy Carey
Alfred Roy Carey was an aeronautical engineer of African-American and Afro-Venezuelan descent. He got married to Patricia Carey (Mariah Carey’s mother) in 1960 and they have three children together. The marriage lasted thirteen years and they got divorced in 1973. Sadly, Alfred passed away on July 4, 2002, in Suffolk County, New York, United States.
About Mariah Carey’s mother- Patricia Carey
Patricia Carey (née Hickey) is an American-based singer, songwriter, and record producer. She is a native of New York and is also an Irish-American retired opera singer and freelance vocal coach by profession. Patricia Carey was born on February 15, 1937. She is 84 years old as of December 2022. Patricia was married to Alfred Roy Carey (Mariah Carey’s father) from 1960 to 1973.
They got married in 1960 and divorced in 1973. Being an interracial couple, Mariah Carey’s parents tolerated a lot of racism throughout their marriage including being fired at their home and their pets being poisoned. In Mariah’s memoir “The Meaning of Mariah Carey”, the singer explained the strained relationship she and her mother went on to have. Their relationship got worse when Mariah Carey’s career blossomed and took over her mother’s. She said in her memoir;
Jealousy comes with the territory when you are famous. But when it comes from your own mother, it is very painful.
About Mariah Carey’s siblings
Mariah Carey is the youngest of her parents’ three children. Her siblings include – Morgan Carey and Alison Carey.
a. Morgan Carey
Morgan Carey is the older brother of Mariah Carey. He is an American record producer, fitness trainer, entrepreneur, and former model. He was born on August 6, 1960, in Long Island, New York, United States. He is 63 years old as of January 2023.
Aside from this, little information is known about his personal life as he prefers to stay out of the spotlight. According to reports, Morgan and Alison Carey both filed lawsuits against Mariah Carey claiming that their sister intentionally inflicted emotional distress on them.
b. Alison Carey
Alison Carey is the older sister of Mariah Carey. She was born on August 7, 1962, in Huntington, Long Island, New York, United States. She is 60 years old as of January 2023. According to reports, Alison Carey married a man named Richard McDonald and became pregnant at a young age.
In 1977, her son Shawn was born and she dropped out of high school. She later became unemployed and claimed that she experienced difficulties finding a job because of inexperience. She later returned to the streets and became a sex worker. She and Richard got divorced and she later remarried a man named Dale Scott.
Mariah Carey and her older sister, Alison, have a strained relationship. In an interview on “The Oprah Conversation”, Mariah Carey described her sister as troubled and traumatized.
Mariah Carey’s marriage and wedding
As of the time of publishing this article (January 2023), Mariah Carey is a two-time divorced woman and has no husband. Carey has been married twice. Her first marriage was to American music executive Tommy Mottola while her second was to American actor and comedian Nick Cannon.
According to reports, Carey is currently in a relationship with American choreographer Bryan Tanaka.
List of Mariah Carey’s boyfriends
Mariah Carey, 52, has had several relationships, most of them with prominent men in the American entertainment industry. While available reports might differ, Carey revealed in July 2019 that she has only been with five people in her life.
Below is a list of men Mariah Carey has dated or been romantically linked with in the past:
- Mariah Carey and Tommy Mottola got married in 1997.
- Mariah Carey was publicly linked to Derek Jeter in 1997.
- Mariah Carey was reportedly in a relationship with a Dutch model identified as Marcus Schenkenberg in 1998.
- Mariah Carey was in a relationship with Luis Miguel in 1998.
- Mariah Carey had an alleged brief romance with Eminem in 2001.
- Mariah Carey was rumoured to be in a relationship with Eric Benet in 2000.
- Mariah Carey was in a brief relationship with Christain Monzon in 2005.
- Mariah Carey got married to Nick Cannon in 2008.
- Mariah Carey was engaged to James Packer in 2016.
- Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka started dating in December 2017.
About Mariah Carey and Tommy Mottola’s marriage
Tommy Mottola is an American music executive, producer, and author. He was born on July 14, 1948, in The Bronx, New York, United States. He is 74 years old as of January 2023.
According to reports, Mariah Carey and Tommy Mottola started dating in 1991 when Tommy was the head of Sony Music. They were married from 1993 until 1998 (five years). At the time they tied the knot, Tommy Mottola was 43 while Mariah was 24. In an interview on Meghan Markle’s podcast, the singer claimed that she was locked away during her marriage to Tommy and that it was extremely difficult for her.
She said in a statement;
My first marriage, I was very much what’s the word? I was kind of locked away, and I was sort of, you know, given the rules and had to stick with them.
She also revealed that she had paid for half of the Storybook mansion, where she resided with Mottola during their marriage. According to Carey, she knew she had to leave Tommy Mottola because of how suffocating the marriage became. In Tommy Mottola’s 2013 memoir titled “Hitmaker: The Man and his Music”, he admitted that his relationship with Mariah Carey was wrong and inappropriate.
He said in a statement;
If it seemed like I was controlling, I apologize. Was I obsessive? Yes, but that was also part of the reason for her success.
After the former couple announced their separation on May 30, 1997, Mariah Carey went on to make highly successful albums with several No.1 hits.
About Mariah Carey and Eminem’s controversial relationship
Eminem is an American rapper. He was born on October 17, 1972, in Saint Joseph, Missouri, United States. He is 50 years old as of January 2023.
Eminem rapped about having a relationship with Mariah Carey in his 2002 song “Superman”.
“What you tryna be? My new wife? What are you Mariah? Fly through twice!”
Mariah Carey, however, denied that she and Eminem were ever romantically involved. This prompted Eminem to release verses about her and her then-husband Nick Cannon on his 2009 track “Bagpipes from Baghdad”.
Some of the lyrics goes:
“Mariah, whatever happened to us? Why did we have to break up? I can’t imagine what is going through your mind after such a nasty breakup with that your Latin hunk Luis Miguel. Nick Cannon better back the f** up, I’m not playing. I want her back, you punk…I mean, I really want you bad, you c**. Nick, you had your fun, I’ve come to kick you in your sack of junk”.
Following Eminem’s track, Mariah Carey released her 2009 single “Obsessed” with lyrics seemingly addressing Eminem’s continuous infatuation with her.
Part of the song’s lyrics goes:
“Oh why you so obsessed with me? Boy, I wanna know! Lying you’re sexing me when everybody knows. It’s clear that you are upset with me. Finally found a girl that you couldn’t impress. Last man on the earth still couldn’t hit this”.
The music video of the song shows Mariah Carey playing a hooded male stalker which everyone assumed was her imitating Eminem.
Eminem later fired back at Carey in another diss track, rapping;
Oh gee, is that supposed to be me? In the video with the goatee? How Mariah? I didn’t expect you to go b** out. Shut the f*** up before I put all them phone calls out you made to my house when you was wildin’ out before Nick.
Reacting to Eminem’s diss tracks about Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon who was married to Carey at the time criticized the rapper in a lengthy blog post:
He wrote:
“A mediocre; Eminem record that sounds like it was written in 2001. At first, I thought it was old material that had been dug up from when dude ‘fantasized’ about having a pretend fling with Mariah. But all of a sudden I hear my name in the verse! My first reaction was like, ‘This is his new sh–? Wow, that’s too bad. I thought we got past the days where white men could spew vulgar obscenities at our beautiful queens and get away with it.”
Following Nick Cannon’s post, Eminem decided to back down from the drama and things started to die down from there.
During an interview with Tim Westwood on BBC Radio 1 Extra in 2009, Eminem admitted that some of the things he said about Mariah Carey in his record were harsh but he didn’t expect Nick Cannon to react to it the way he did. He added that what he meant to say was that he wished them well in their marriage.
He said:
I heard about some of the things he was saying. I didn’t read his blog or anything. But it is what it is. At the end of the day, it’s a line I said. It’s a song. What I actually meant to say is, I wish them the best. That’s what I meant to say.”
About Mariah Carey’s marriage to Nick Cannon
Nick Cannon was the second husband of Mariah Carey. He is an American television host, actor, rapper, and comedian. He was born on October 8, 1980, in San Diego, California, United States. He is 42 years old as of January 2023.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon met at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards where Cannon presented Carey with the surfboard award for Choice Music R&B artist. Before they stepped on stage, they had a brief encounter backstage.
Nick Cannon said in a statement;
She had heard me speaking all of these positive, secret little things about her in interviews, and I remember seeing her backstage, and she stops right in front of me. She’s like I heard all those nice things you been saying about me. I was like “They’re true, just give me an opportunity to make them come true.”
In April 2008, Mariah Carey cast Nick Cannon as her love interest in the “Bye Bye” music video, sparking strong rumours of a potential off-screen romance. That same month, the pair were spotted looking cozy together at an exclusive club in Las Vegas during rapper Da Brat‘s 24th birthday. In May 2008, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon got married, and although they didn’t share details of their relationship publicly.
That same month, they made their first public appearance as a married couple at the Time 100 Gala in New York City. On April 30, 2010, in honour of their second-wedding anniversary, Carey and Cannon renewed their vows. On April 30, 2011, the same date as their wedding anniversary, the pair welcomed a set of fraternal twins – a boy and a girl.
In August 2014, reports started spreading that Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s marriage had hit the rocks. On December 12, 2014, Nick Cannon officially filed for divorce. He later spoke about his split from Mariah Carey, saying;
We’ll forever be family. We are here for our children and are making them our number one priority and understanding that they are loved and can have an amazing holiday.
In August 2020, Mariah Carey opened up about her marriage to Nick in her book.
She said;
He was a good guy. He was faith-based. He was ambitious. He had been in the entertainment industry for a long time, so he understood the madness but he paid attention to me. Honestly, I think Nick and I could have worked it out between the two of us, but egos and emotions got inflamed. We both wanted to make sure everything was cool for our family. We will always be family, and we would make it work.
About Mariah Carey’s relationship with James Packer
James Packer is an Australian billionaire, businessman, and investor. He was born on September 8, 1967, in Sydney, Australia. He is 55 years old as of January 2023.
Mariah Carey and James Packer met at the Hercules movie premiere in 2014. They were later spotted holding hands on an apparent vacation trip in June 2015 before making their red carpet debut in September 2015 at “The Intern” movie premiere.
After a few months of dating, James Packer proposed to Carey in January 2016 with a massive diamond ring. Unfortunately, in October 2016, the pair called off their engagement. Following their split, James Packer opened up about his short-lived romance with Mariah Carey.
He said;
I was at a low point in my personal life. She was kind, exciting, and fun. Mariah is a woman of substance, but it was a mistake for her and a mistake for me.
Speaking on the failed relationship, Mariah Carey said;
If it was a relationship that mattered, it’s in the book. If not, it didn’t occur. We didn’t have a physical relationship, to be honest with you.
About Mariah Carey’s relationship with Bryan Tanaka
Bryan Tanaka is the current boyfriend of Mariah Carey. He is an actor and director. He was born on April 11, 1983, in Lacey, Washington, United States. He is 39 years old as of January 2023. Bryan Tanaka is also reported to be Mariah Carey’s backup dancer.
Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka began dating in 2016 after she ended her engagement with ex-fiancé James Packer. In November 2016, a month after her split with James Packer, Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka were spotted engaging in some intense beach PDA over Thanksgiving weekend.
They were also later spotted in the waves at Maui’s Grand Wailea Resort in Hawaii. In February 2017, the pair confirmed their relationship with an Instagram kiss with the caption “No one knows what it means, but it’s provocative…it gets people going!”. Although the couple initially broke up after five months of dating, they reunited weeks later and have been going strong ever since.
As of the time of writing, Carey and Tanaka are still together and going well in their relationship.
Mariah Carey’s children
As of the time of publishing this article (January 2023), Mariah Carey is the proud mother of two children named Monroe and Moroccan Cannon whom she shares with her second husband Nick Cannon.
About Mariah Carey’s children
a. Monroe Cannon
Monroe Cannon is Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s daughter. She is one-half of Mariah Carey’s set of twins. She was born on April 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California, United States. She is 11 years old as of January 2023. Monroe Cannon is an actress known for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (2017), “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special” (2020), and “Mariah’s World” (2016).
b. Moroccan Cannon
Moroccan Cannon is Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s son. He is the other half of Mariah Carey’s set of twins. He was born on April 30, 2011, in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is 11 years old as of January 2023. Moroccan Cannon was named after the Moroccan-inspired decor in the top tier of Mariah Carey’s New York City apartment which was the site of her and Cannon’s engagement.
