Mariah Carey Admits She’s Still ‘Angry’ With Her Ex, reflecting on her difficult marriage to music executive Tommy Mottola. The Heartbreaker singer shared in a new interview that while she has worked hard to heal, some feelings of resentment remain.
A Relationship That Defined Her Early Career
Mariah, now 56, first met Tommy, 77, in 1991 when he recognized her talent and helped launch her career at Columbia Records. Just two years later, they tied the knot in a lavish New York ceremony in 1993, around the time Tommy became CEO of Sony Music, Columbia’s parent company.
Healing Through Humor
In a candid conversation with Harper’s Bazaar UK for the September 2025 issue, Mariah admitted:
“Sometimes I feel angry about that time, but I think I’ve made peace with it. In any case, I vowed I’d stop talking about it.”
She explained that humor has been her biggest coping mechanism:
“Humor is my release, and people who know me know that. I’ll make little jokes about what happened because otherwise I could make every day a sob story… It’s a coping mechanism, but it’s in my nature to laugh.”
A Marriage She Once Described as “Prison-Like”
Mariah, who was 20 years younger than her husband, has previously opened up about the controlling nature of their marriage. In a 2019 interview with Cosmopolitan, she said:
“You might want to picture a child bride. There was a conscious effort to keep me as this all-American, whatever that means, girl. It was very controlled. There was no freedom for me as a human being. It was almost like being a prisoner.”
Moving Forward
While the superstar acknowledges the anger that still lingers, she continues to use laughter and resilience as tools for healing — showing fans that even icons carry scars but still find ways to shine.
