Mariah Carey Says Her Affair With Derek Jeter Was A ‘Catalyst” For Her Divorce From Tommy Mottola

Mariah Carey Says Her Affair With Derek Jeter Was A ‘Catalyst” For Her Divorce From Tommy Mottola

‘We Belong Together’ singer Mariah Carey is revealing in an upcoming interview, that meeting former MBL star Derek Jeter helped her end her first marriage.

Mariah Carey married Tommy Mottola on June 5, 1993, his second marriage, and the couple announced their split on May 30, 1997, and later divorced.

Mariah Carey was married to Tommy Mottola, the record executive who discovered her, when she began her affair with Derek Jeter, which inspired a few of the songs in her catalogue. Mariah says,

“He was a catalyst that helped me get out of that relationship, because I had believed that there was somebody else. 

It was the racial situation. You know, his mom is Irish. His dad is black, but he was also very ambiguous looking to me. I didn’t know who he was.”

Mariah Carey adds, that he wasn’t the love of her life, but at the time it felt like it.

“We met and I’ve written songs about it, and honestly, I don’t think it was like: “Oh my gosh, he was the love of my li-” like, at the time I did, because I didn’t think I would ever meet anybody who wouldn’t … not look down on, but feel superior to me for – because of the fact that I’m not one way or the other in most people’s minds, and they have preconceived notions, whatever.”

She continued:

“But he was a catalyst, and I think that it was beautiful, and his family was a healthy family and they changed my viewpoint that: “Oh, it’s because of the biracial situation that my family’s so screwed up,” as opposed to: “It’s them.”

Mariah confessed that

“And yes, those things did play a huge part in their dysfunction, but it was healthy for me to see a functional family, that, you know, basically kind of looked like mine but didn’t feel like mine. And he was also living his dream job and doing his dream job and stuff, you know. I believe we connected in that way.”

Check out the clip below.

Recently the legendary  singer revealed in her upcoming memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, that two of her classic hits were written about her time spent with the ex-MLB player. Mariah Carey shared that her songs ‘The Roof’ and ‘My All’ were both about her relationship with the former Yankees player.

According to Mariah Carey, she met Derek Jeter at a party towards the end of her marriage with music executive Tommy Mottola. Her book also details that the first time she kissed Derek Jeter, which was on top of his apartment building roof inspiring her to write her song ‘The Roof’. In a recent interview, Mariah revealed that she still remembers that moment very well and said

“Of course I do! I can never forget that moment.”

She continued

“I mean, it’s not like it was some intensely deep, intellectually stimulating — again, it was a great moment, and it happened in a divine way because it helped me get past living there, in [Mottala’s house,] under those rules and regulations.”