Mariah Carey was once so poor she couldn't afford enough food to eat and now that she's rich, she still suffers from crippling insecurity.
The Hero star, who performed at New York City's Madison Square Garden on Saturday night (19Aug17) with Lionel Richie as part of their extensive All The Hits tour, opened up in an exclusive interview backstage with the New York Post.
Sitting in a room painted all-white and decorated throughout with candles by famed Brit Jo Malone, requirements usually asked for by the legendary singer in her concert contracts, Mariah admitted that she does not feel like a superstar on the inside.
"I just feel like I am a regular human being and I deserve the same respect as anybody else," she shared. "I have always had low self-esteem, and people do not recognise that. I can’t measure what type of respect I deserve — I really can’t."
The surprising admissions didn't stop there. Mariah also recalled being so poor as a struggling artist that she and a friend would make a plate of food last for days.
Before she secured her first record deal, she would often sleep "on the floor in the studio, being broke with no food...Me and my friend would split pasta and sauce for, like, a week. Or it was, like, a bagel and iced tea .?.?. The guy would give it to me at the deli for free."
She also admitted that she never felt particularly comfortable in her own skin growing up.
"Growing up different, being biracial, having the whole thing where I did not know if I fit in...That is why music became such a big part of my life," she noted. "Because it helped me overcome those issues. Sometimes it is hard to let your guard down."
She owned up to second-guessing the behaviour of people she is close to currently.
“I do think to myself, ‘Did they mean this? Or do they not really mean it?’ And that is with everybody - it is not just with three people or just one.”
Of her future plans, she revealed she has a new fragrance in the works. "I don’t have a name... But it is with Elizabeth Arden. It smells like success. There is also a secret song I have been working on."
The New York Post also reported that Mariah was spotted with her boyfriend Bryan Tanaka after the show and that "they snuggled and kissed through the post-concert party".
