The past 50 years have been one heck of a ride for Mariah Carey. In her new memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the five-time Grammy winner pulls back the curtain on her life and career thus far, giving fans an unprecedented look at one of the most accomplished — and private — stars in music history.
Carey divides the book into four parts: Wayward Child, Sing. Sing., All That Glitters and Emancipation. The first few chapters take readers through her turbulent upbringing in New York to the early days of her career, when she married Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola, who discovered her in 1988.
The “Hero” singer candidly reflects on the ups and downs of her first marriage and how her affair with New York Yankees player Derek Jeter gave her the courage to leave Mottola in 1997. She also discusses her 2001 breakdown like never before, shedding light on her much-publicized rehab stay, her infamous TRL appearance and, yes, the box-office flop that was Glitter.
There is a rainbow (pun intended) at the end of the storm though. In the last pages of her memoir, Carey speaks highly of her marriage to Nick Cannon and how they have remained amicable since their 2014 split while raising their now-9-year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe (a.k.a. Roc and Roe or Dem Babies).
While the Songbird Supreme goes into great detail about many aspects of her life, she opted to omit several memories from her book. She does not divulge the reason for her early aughts hospitalization (she previously revealed that she has bipolar disorder but does not mention the diagnosis in her memoir) and also skips over her rumored relationship with Eminem, her short-lived engagement to billionaire businessman James Packer and her current romance with backup dancer Bryan Tanaka.
That said, The Meaning of Mariah Carey is chock-full of once-in-a-lifetime stories. Scroll down to read eight revelations, and pick up a copy in bookstores now for even more!