In an interview on Oprah Winfrey's new online talk show The Oprah Conversation to discuss her newly-published memoirs, the acclaimed performer Mariah Carey opened up about her troubled childhood, life as a biracial woman, and difficult relationship with her siblings.
Take a look at this clip from the interview with Oprah:Per Yahoo! News, when speaking to Oprah, Carey stated:
Last year, Mariah had the honor of being presented with the Billboard Icon Award:"I would never have spoken a word about anybody in my life, and I tried to be very fair. But people have drawn first blood with me historically."
"I know you understand this: when there are people that are in any way connected to you as a person that has achieved any success, you are a target. You’re vulnerable.”
Carey continued:
"But I wouldn’t have gone here if things hadn’t been done to me. If I hadn’t been dragged by certain people and treated as an ATM machine with a wig on. All it is is like: let me get some money, and let me get some money no matter what."
She also detailed some of the horrific abuse she says she endured at the hands of her family, claiming that she was bullied by her siblings due to her lighter skin tone. Carey states in her book:
"When I was 12 years old, my sister drugged me with Valium, offered me a pink nail full of cocaine and inflicted me with third-degree burns and tried to sell me to a pimp.”
She added:
"We don’t even know each other. By the time I got into the world they were damaged, in my opinion. We’re not even that far apart tonally."
"They just grew up with the experience of living with a black father and a white mother together as a family, and I was ... living with my mother, which they saw as easier.”
Carey discusses all this and more, including her relationship with ex-husband Tommy Mottola, in her autobiography: The Meaning of Mariah Carey, due to be released on September 29, 2020.