Mariah Carey Says She Was A 'Prisoner' In Her 'Controlling' First Marriage

"Picture a child bride," the singer said in an interview with Cosmopolitan.
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Mariah Carey opened up about her love life and what she said was her “controlling” first marriage for Cosmopolitan’s August issue.

The “We Belong Together” singer and magazine cover star, who’s been married twice, spoke about tying the knot with music executive Tommy Mottola in 1993. Carey said the marriage, which only lasted a few years, wasn’t a happy one for her.

“You might want to picture a child bride,” Carey told Cosmo. “There was a conscious effort to keep me as this all-American, whatever that means, girl. It was very controlled.”

She added: “There was no ­freedom for me as a human being. It was almost like being a prisoner.”

Mariah Carey and then-husband, American music executive Tommy Mottola, attend the "Salute to American Heroes Gala" in 1995.
Mariah Carey and then-husband, American music executive Tommy Mottola, attend the "Salute to American Heroes Gala" in 1995.
Rose Hartman via Getty Images

Cosmo noted that Mottola later called the relationship “wrong and inappropriate.”

He made the statement in his 2013 book, “Hitmaker: The Man and His Music.” He wrote that he was “truly sorry for any discomfort or pain that all of my good intentions inevitably caused her,” but denied accounts that he was controlling as “lots of crap.”

The two eventually divorced, and Carey married Nick Cannon in 2008, who she shares twins Monroe and Moroccan with. That marriage came to an end in 2016.

Carey is now involved with backup dancer and choreographer Bryan Tanaka, after briefly dating Australian billionaire James Packer.

In the Cosmo interview, the singer described her former partners as a “variety pack.”

“I’ve only been with five people in my life, so I’m kind of a prude, honestly, compared to most others in the field,” she said.

Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka perform live on stage at the O2 Arena on Dec.11, 2017, in London, England
Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka perform live on stage at the O2 Arena on Dec.11, 2017, in London, England
Samir Hussein via Getty Images

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