I've seen the real extreme diva behaviour and I don't think that's who I am.
— Mariah Carey
My father identified as a black man. No one asked him because he was clearly black. But people always ask me. If we were together, people would look at us in a really strange way. It sucked. As a little girl I had blond hair and they'd look at me, look at him, and be disgusted.
You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. Sometimes you feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it.
Basically, I started singing when I started talking. Music has just been my saving grace my whole life.
Whatever you're going through in your life, don't ever give up.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel... hopefully its not a freight train!
Never, never listen to anybody that try to discourage you.
In this world, I call the shots and I think I know best.
I hope to be around past the 90's. I don't want to just be categorized as one of this era. My goal is to have a career that stands.
I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime. And coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn't really fit in anywhere.
I try not to be a jerk. I really do. I try to be nice and cordial.
You really have to look inside yourself and find your own inner strength, and say, 'I'm proud of what I am and who I am, and I'm just going to be myself.'
I do not think I reinvent myself. Wearing my hair differently or changing my style of dress is playing dress-up. I don't take it too seriously.
I'd rather be onstage with a pig - a duet with Jennifer Lopez and me just ain't going to happen.
I'm not one of those people that goes into details of my personal life on national TV to get attention. Some things are better left unsaid.
Forget the image, forget the ensemble, forget the rumours, forget the short skirts, the big hair, whatever! I owe this to the fans and I will never forget you so I want to accept this award on behalf of all of you.
It's hard to be someone that people talk about and write about, you know? They don't know me.
If you see me as just the princess then you misunderstand who I am and what I have been through.
I don't think anyone knows as much about what's right for me as I do.
A lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time.
I understand people want to hold on to their roots.
I'm not vain, I'm insecure.
One day I promised God that if he would give me my voice back I would never smoke again. I got three octaves back after quitting.
My mother is Irish, my father is black and Venezuelan, and me - I'm tan, I guess.
Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go.
This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream - don't ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me!
My heart has never been broken, I've never broken anyone else's.
If critics have problems with my personal life, it's their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it's the charts that count.
I don't mind being compared to Whitney, there are people miles worse to be compared to.
