Mariah Carey is opening up to Oprah Winfrey about her divorce from Tommy Mottola.
In a recently released clip from an episode of The Oprah Conversation, Mariah sat down with Oprah to discuss how her relationship with former New York Yankees star Derek Jeter—who she was linked to in the late 90s—influenced her decision to leave Tommy after five years of marriage.
"He was a catalyst that helped me get out of that relationship because I believed there was somebody else," the award-winning singer shared. "It was the racial situation, his mom is Irish, his dad is Black. But he was also very ambiguous looking to me. I didn't know who he was, we met and I've written songs about it."
Mariah continued, "I don't think it was like, 'Oh my god, he was the love of my life.' 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."
The "We Belong Together" singer explained how Derek's family was also a major influence in allowing her to see a "healthy" family that resembles hers.
"His family was a healthy family and they changed by viewpoint that, 'Oh, it's because of the biracial situation that my family is so screwed up.' As opposed to, 'It's them,'" she said. "It was healthy for me to see a functional family that basically kind of looked like mine, but didn't feel like mine."
The Oprah Conversations premieres Thursday, Sept. 24, exclusively on Apple TV+.