"At 12, My Older Sister Offered Me Cocaine... Almost Sold as a Prostitute" Mariah Carey's Family Confession

Pop star Mariah Carey from the United States opened up about her troubled family history in an interview on "Oprah's Conversations" on the 24th.
Photo by Apple TV+ broadcast screen capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Seul-gi] American pop star Mariah Carey (50) opened up about her troubled family history through her autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

On the 24th (Korean time), in an interview with Apple's online video service (OTT) Apple TV+ program Oprah's Conversations, she revealed, "I was treated like an ATM machine. I felt worthless and like a prisoner of relationships."

Carey was born in 1970 in New York, USA, to Alfred Roy Carey, a Black father of Venezuelan descent, and Patricia, a white mother of Irish descent. The couple had three children?Allison, Morgan, and Carey?before divorcing when Carey was three years old.

In the interview, Carey said she was envied by her older sister and brother because she lived mainly with her lighter-skinned, white mother after their parents' divorce.

Carey confessed, "They (my siblings) grew up experiencing life as a family with a Black father and a white mother, while I mostly lived with my mother. They might have thought living with my mother was easy, but it really wasn't. They envied my lighter skin tone. They seemed to feel that my lighter skin made life easier."

However, Carey's skin color actually brought her hardships during childhood. Being noticeably darker among her white friends, she frequently faced racial discrimination.

Carey recalled, "Once, some girls invited me to play, took me to a secluded place, locked me there, and shouted 'kkamdungi' (a derogatory term for Black people) at me."

Dreaming of becoming a singer from a young age, Carey started working at a coat check room in Manhattan right after graduating high school in 1987. She then became a backup singer for Brenda K Starr and debuted with the help of Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola.

Carey said, "My family depended on my popularity and demanded I earn more money. People who achieve some success often become targets of those around them. If I hadn't been treated like a 'wig-wearing ATM machine,' I wouldn't have needed therapy."

On this day, Carey specifically confessed the wounds inflicted by her family in her autobiography. She revealed, "When I was 12, my sister gave me tranquilizers, offered me pink nails filled with cocaine, caused third-degree burns, and tried to sell me to a pimp to force me into prostitution."

She added, "I never once thought I was beautiful or worthy of existence. But now, raising two children, I am undergoing trauma therapy. Writing this book gave me catharsis and a greater sense of freedom."