Mariah Carey Says Her Relationship With Derek Jeter Helped Her Leave Her Husband, Tommy Mottola

Mariah Carey promises her upcoming memoir will reveal all. Most fans are eager for the singer to dive into her love life and give all of the details about her marriages to Tommy Mottola and Nick Cannon. Carey has been vocal about the emotionally abusive marriage with Mottola and now says an affair with Derek Jeter helped her divorce Mottola.

Mariah Carey says Tommy Mottola was controlling

Mottola and Carey married in a ceremony fit for a princess in 1993. Carey says Mottola took the idea of her being a princess too far and controlled nearly every aspect of her life and career.

“You might want to picture a child bride,” she told Cosmopolitan in a July 2019 interview. “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.”

It didn’t help that there is a 20 year age difference between the two. At the time of their nuptials, Carey was 24-years-old, Mottola was 44, and the head of her record label.

He had a say in the music she released and her public image. Carey says she did not even have control over her own personal finances during the marriage.

She says she had to ask permission to leave the house and that Mottola fought to hold onto his power in their marriage and in business.

How Mariah Carey says Derek Jeter helped her leave Tommy Mottola

Carey previously spoke about her infatuation with Jeter. People reports that in a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, Carey says she and Jeter shared several similarities. One of which is that they are both biracial.

Growing up with issues related to her racial idenity, Carey says spending time with Jeter and his family helped her through some of her issues.

“It was the racial situation, his mom is Irish, his dad is Black,” she says. “But he was also very ambiguous looking to me.”

Carey says at the time, she believed she could have been in love. 

“And honestly, I don’t think it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he was the love of my life,'” she admits. “Like, at the time I did, because I didn’t think I would ever meet anybody who wouldn’t- What’s the word? I used the word, I just thought about this last night. Not looked down on but feel superior to me because of the fact that I’m not one way or another in most people’s minds, and they have preconceived notions, whatever.”

Now, she realizes Jeter was what she needed to show her a different type of love from Mottola. “He was a catalyst [for me to leave Mottola]. And I think that it was beautiful,” she says.

Carey will go more into depth about Mottola, Jeter, and more in her upcoming memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, which hits shelves Sept. 29.