Life Lessons from Mariah Carey

Welcome to Life Lessons with Mariah Carey. These days, Carey is mostly known for her powerhouse vocals, her Christmas bangers, and her unrelenting star power. But when she graced the cover of our September issue back in 2007, readers discovered a more vulnerable and intimate side of the larger-than-life performer. Our then-editor in chief Ingrid Sischy visited Carey’s New York City penthouse from midnight to four a.m. for a tour of the artist’s inner sanctum, and a conversation about everything from family, to broken marriages and career comebacks. Below, take in a few words of wisdom from Carey that were too good to leave in the aughts. 

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“The thing is, I know the art I’m going to love is going to be like a gazillion dollars—that’s just the way it’s been my whole life. Who the hell nominated me to be the princess and the pea?”

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“[Early in my career], it was ‘You’re too young; you’re too light; you’re too black…’ I was this nebulous creature that nobody understood, but they could hear the voice.”

“I’ve been singing since I started talking.”

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“[Marilyn Monroe] was fabulously festive and gorgeous and fun and camp. There’s a sadness because she’d been through it, and I think I relate to that. I think she was pushing through that to be who she was.”

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“I found that [my father] saved these cards of mine from when I was little. It meant so much to me that he cared to save them, because this was before stardom. He’s one of the few people that wasn’t all about me being a star, which really meant so much to me.”

“I save stuff that [fans] make. A lot of the time, they’re so funny. If someone took the time to do this then I feel I should keep it.”

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“I didn’t want to make too elaborate a guest room, because I don’t want people to get too comfortable.”

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“I’m a very forgiving person, but if somebody does something to me that’s too much I have no problem cutting them completely out of my life—at a certain point, some things are too much to take.”

“My mother had never owned anything and I didn’t want to be a woman that could be kicked out of the house at any time, so I wanted to own. All these people who felt like I was only who I was because of [my ex-husband Tommy Motolla] can never say that I didn’t contribute.”

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“I love being outside; I feel free.”

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“I’ve always had so much faith that I believe is a gift from god. And my mother believed too: Before I was born, she named me Mariah Carey because she thought it would be a great stage name.”

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“There are a lot of different storms that I feel like I’ve weathered throughout my life and each one of them prepared me for the next one. Even from childhood.”