'Mariah's World': Mariah Carey Opens Up About a Past Relationship That Made Her Feel Like 'Rapunzel'

The singer also shared a cozy moment reconnecting with back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka.

On Sunday’s all-new Mariah's World, Mariah Carey got closer to her backup dancer beau, Bryan Tanaka, and opened up about a past relationship that the "All I Want for Christmas Is You" singer said was very stifling.

"I was with someone at the time that had a lot of control over my life," Carey said of her early career on Sunday's episode. "He was older than me by a lot and had a lot of power and they wanted me to remain away from most people, like sequestered."

Carey's friend and frequent collaborator Jermaine Dupri -- who first collaborated with Carey on the songstress' 1995 single "Always Be My Baby" -- also dished on her career at the time, comparing her to the fairy-tale damsel Rapunzel.


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"I've been around her when she was Rapunzel and she was in this big ass castle," Dupri recalled.

"I had to get permission to leave," Carey said, adding that she felt like she'd end up "haunting that house, dead."

"I never thought I would get out of there," she said.

Carey was married to Tommy Mottola, head of Sony Music, from 1993 to 1997. The songstress has spoken in the past about their failed marriage, and how she felt trapped like a "canary in a cage" during their relationship, according to an interview with Vanity Fair.


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In 2013, Mottola sat down with the Today show's Matt Lauer, where he admitted to having a "controlling" nature, explaining, "Well I think that anyone that is successful becomes obsessive with what they are trying to succeed at."

"If it seemed like I was controlling let me apologize," Mottola said at the time.

After her divorce from Mottola, Carey didn't remarry until 2008, when she tied the knot with Nick Cannon. Cannon filed for divorce six years later. Carey was then engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer, but their relationship came to an end in October.

However, in this episode of Mariah's World, shot before their split, the couple are still going strong. In fact, Packer flies out to see Carey in Scotland while she's performing on her European tour.


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Meanwhile, Carey also started getting closer with Tanaka, her current beau and long-time backup dancer, on Sunday's show, as the two reconnected after years apart in her dressing room before her show.

Carey came out dressed in a skin-baring silver outfit with a plunging neckline and no pants and the pair reconnected with a lot of hugging and laughing (steeped in awkward sexual tension).

Recently, photos from Carey's Hawaiian vacation surfaced, showing her and Tanaka getting very close in the surf and even sharing a lip-locking embrace. Check out the video below for a look at their steamy beach romp.

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