What Mariah Carey's Exes Have Said About Her

Mariah Carey's exes are anything but shy when it comes to sharing their thoughts on the legendary pop icon.

For over 30 decades, the beloved talent has ruled the music sphere with an iron fist. From earning 19 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 to becoming the queen of Christmas with her hit single "All I Want For Christmas Is You," it's safe to say that Mariah Carey has left an unforgettable mark on pop culture enthusiasts and the entertainment industry as a whole. But like many celebrities in the public eye, the Songbird Supreme has also been known to make headlines for her personal life, specifically her relationship history. 

While Carey is notoriously private about her life away from the stage, she's spilt some tea about her past lovers here and there. In a 2019 interview with Cosmopolitan, the Grammy-winning singer described her love life as slightly prudish. "I haven't had that many, but there has been a variety pack," she explained. "I've only been with five people in my life, so I'm kind of a prude, honestly, compared to most others in the field." Even though Carey has kept a relatively low profile regarding her love life, some of her exes have had much to say about the singer-songwriter and their relationship.

One of Mariah Carey's most notable relationships was with Nick Cannon. Their love affair first began in 2008, with the two lovebirds tying the knot in April of that year, per People. "We really do feel we are soulmates," Carey told the publication. Over the next few years, their relationship continued to thrive, resulting in the birth of their fraternal twins, Moroccan and Monroe. Unfortunately in 2014, Carey and Cannon's relationship ended after the latter filed for divorce, per TMZ.

While their marriage ended abruptly in the 2010s, there seems to be no bad blood between the two industry stars. Over the years, Cannon has assured pop culture enthusiasts that he has nothing but respect for the "We Belong Together" singer. In May 2023, he described Carey as a gift from God during an interview with The Shaderoom. "I was 12 years old with Mariah Carey pictures on my wall, and that becomes my wife. And the fact that she's the coolest person I ever met ... I get a lot of this delightful disposition from her," he explained. "She's just always happy, always doing for others. That woman is not human. She's a gift from God." 

Cannon also praised Carey for being his rock after his lupus diagnosis in 2012. "She went hard. To be honest, I probably wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for how hard she went with the doctors, with me, my stubbornness," he explained on the Diary Of A CEO podcast.

Mariah Carey is no stranger to delivering iconic pop culture moments, like her highly public breakup with billionaire James Packer. The pair first made waves in 2015 when the beloved singer opened up about first meeting the Australian businessman on "The Steve Harvey Show." "We were talking and laughing, and people were getting mad at us and stuff like that. So we hit it off," she revealed. After nearly two years of dating, Packer asked Carey to marry him with a whopping 35-carat diamond ring, per Essence. While their future seemed promising, the two called it quits in October 2016, with the "Fantasy" singer even requesting Packer to pay her $50 million for wasting her time, per ET.

Fortunately, despite the legal drama, Packer has held no ill feelings toward Carey and their intense breakup. In a 2017 interview with The Australian, he described the Grammy winner as a woman of substance, stating, "I was at a low point in my personal life. She was kind, exciting and fun ... but it was a mistake for her and a mistake for me." A few years later, Packer echoed similar sentiments before the release of Carey's memoir, "The Meaning Of Mariah." 

"I wish her well," he told Private Sydney (via Sydney Morning Herald). "I haven't seen an advance copy or spoken to Mariah for four years."

Between 1998 and 2001, Mariah Carey was entangled in a passionate love affair with Latin pop singer Luis Miguel. In a 2000 interview (via Exclusive LM), the queen of Christmas gushed about her relationship with the beloved artist, describing him as really secure. "The public and the media, whatever, will attack a relationship and make it into, you know, drive people crazy," she explained. "And it really takes someone really secure to be able to handle that kind of thing. So I'm really actually very happy in a relationship right now with someone who's an entertainer, very big, Latin superstar. His name is Luis Miguel, and he's great."

At the time, Miguel remained relatively mum about his relationship with Carey. However, in one interview, the popular artist responded coyly when asked about his connection to Carey, stating that he doesn't mix business with pleasure, via Telefe. Miguel's relationship with Carey was also referenced in the Netflix series based on his life, which he executive produced.

Over the years, Mariah Carey has dated an array of eligible singers, billionaires, rappers, not to mention baseball player Derek Jeter. The two superstars made waves with their relationship, which began in 1997 and lasted up until 1998, per Page Six. While Carey and Jeter refrained from opening up about their breakup, the latter gave insight into his bond with the singer in a 1999 Sports Illustrated interview. 

"It's hard for me to have a relationship the way things are right now," he explained. "I'd be with someone very understanding, someone who's willing to deal with all the attention. But going out with Mariah, that's taking it to a whole other level." Toward the end of his statement, Jeter attributed their individual star power as the reason behind their relationship not working out.

Carey has also had nothing but good things to say about the former New York Yankees star. "He was a catalyst that helped me get out of that relationship because I believed that there was somebody else," Carey told Oprah in 2020. She also reflected on the two bonding over being mixed race, stating, "It was the racial situation, his mom is Irish, his dad is Black. But he was also very ambiguous looking to me." While Carey admitted that he wasn't the love of her life, she praised Jeter for opening her eyes to a healthier outlook. "He was a catalyst. And I think that it was beautiful," she added.

When it comes to her love life, Mariah Carey has certainly faced her fair share of ups and downs. This was certainly the case regarding her marriage to music executive Tony Mottola, whom she married in 1993, per People. "It's so unbelievable. I mean, it really is like Cinderella," she told the news outlet. Unfortunately for Carey, her fairytale love story with Mottola did not last, resulting in their 1998 divorce. Since their high-profile split, the former CEO of Sony Music has opened up about his relationship with the Songbird Supreme on a few occasions. In his book, "Hitmaker: The Man and His Music," he described their relationship as wrong and inappropriate before apologizing for the pain and discomfort he may have caused her, per Billboard. 

Mottola also sent well wishes to Carey ahead of the release of her memoir, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey," in 2020. "I am deeply gratified to have played that role in Mariah's well-deserved and remarkable success, and I continue to wish her and her family only the very best," he told Page Six. 

As for Carey, the "We Belong Together" singer has held nothing back on her true feelings about Mottola and their marriage. "You might want to picture a child bride," she told Cosmopolitan in 2019. "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."