As the Queen Of Christmas, is now firmly back at the centre of all things as the festive season gears into full swing.
But as the sound of her belting out her classic All I Want For Christmas Is You fills the airwaves, it was not always joy and cheer for the legendary singer.
The chart-topper’s childhood and young adult life was plagued with tragedy and horrific drama, racism and deep family estrangement and turmoil.
Mariah, who has never publicly confirmed her date of birth and this year from wishing her Happy Birthday, is believed to have been born on March 27, 1970, to Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Hickey. Her mum had been disowned by her family for marrying a man of African-American and Afro-Venezuelan descent.
When she was growing up, her family, which includes two older siblings, were frequently racially attacked because of her parents’ interracial marriage. It is alleged that their dogs were poisoned, and one of their cars was blown up.
Mariah Carey’s family tragedy as neighbours ‘poisoned family dog and set fire to their car’ (Image: Getty)
“That was the beginning of a nightmare,” Patricia told Oprah Winfrey during a 1999 interview alongside Mariah. “When we were eating one night, someone fired a shot through the window. Luckily, none of the children were in the room.”
They divorced when Mariah was three and she was said to have become largely estranged from her father. Her complicated childhood creeped into her adult life and after she found fame, while recording her third album, Music Box, she and Columbia Records boss Tommy Mottola began dating.
He was 43, and she was only 24 when they wed in a lavish ceremony on June 5, 1993. They separated in 1997, with Mariah blaming his “controlling” behaviour as the cause of the marital breakdown.
During her reality TV series on Us network E!, she said: “I was with someone at the time that had a lot of control over my life. He was older than me by a lot and had a lot of power and he wanted me to remain away from most people, like sequestered.
“I had to get permission to leave [the house]… I never thought I would get out of there.”
In 2001, during an infamous appearance on MTV chart show, TRL, where she was seen pushing an ice cream cart, and stripping off her clothes to the shock of the host and audience, she spent two weeks in a Connecticut mental hospital citing extreme exhaustion for her breakdown.
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Mariah Carey’s mum Patricia has recently passed away (Image: x)
She revealed in 2018 that she had been diagnosed with bipolar II disorder at the time, but kept her diagnosis private. “I’m just in a really good place right now, where I’m comfortable discussing my struggles with bipolar II disorder,” she told People at the time.
“I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone. It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.”
Just a few months ago, the mother-of-two also faced a challenging and difficult period. In August she expressed her deep sorrow following the tragic death of her over the weekend.
The 55-year-old star did not disclose specific details about their deaths, but it’s been reported that Mariah’s troubled sister Alison was in a few weeks prior to her death.
The heartbroken artist shared the news with on Monday, stating: “My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend. Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.
Mariah’s late sister Alison who struggled with drug addiction (Image: X)
I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed. I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
Mariah has previously been candid about her relationships with her mother and siblings Alison and Morgan. In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, she characterised her relationship with her mother as a “prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment”.
Despite their differences and several tumultuous years, the pair managed to reconcile, with Patricia holding a special place in Mariah’s heart that even led to a special dedication in her memoir.
Unfortunately, Mariah was not able to reconcile with her sister Alison. In her book, she explained that it was “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact” with her brother and sister due to allegations they would “sell lies” to magazines and had “attacked” her for decades.