Mariah Carey’s toyboy Bryan Tanaka declares: ‘I love her so much’

BRYAN Tanaka, the buff dancer rumoured to be Mariah Carey’s new man, has opened up about his relationship with the pop diva.

In the new doco-series Mariah's World, Mariah Carey can been seen getting close with backup dancer Bryan Tanaka. Picture: E!/Universal.

SO ARE they or aren't they?

Bryan Tanaka, the buff dancer rumoured to be Mariah Carey’s new man, has opened up about his relationship with the pop diva.

The 33-year-old revealed he has long been captivated by MiMi.

“I’ve always had a thing for Mariah. I love her so much,” Tanaka told E! News at the official launch party of her new docu-series, Mariah’s World.

But the Washington native stopped short of confirming his alleged romance with the Always Be My Baby singer

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” he said.

“I do a little dance move here and there and we have a good time.”

Bryan Tanaka says he has “always had a thing” for Mariah Carey. Picture: E!/Universal.

Tanaka spoke fondly about the support Carey had given him since 2005 when he first started dancing with her.

“Something connected with us back in the day, and there was just a mutual admiration. She saw something in me that I actually didn’t recognise at first, from that it was over,” Tanaka said.

“It was set in history that we were gonna be connected some way, somehow.”

Carey and Tanaka were recently photographed locking lips on a beach in Hawaii, two months after her split from Aussie billionaire fiance James Packer.

Packer reportedly ended things with the iconic diva over her “extravagant spending” and disagreements over her fly-on-the-wall reality show Mariah’s World.

What about me ... James Packer and Mariah Carey split in October. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris.

A source told Woman’s Day that: “James had huge reservations about Mariah’s new reality TV show and the fact that she was willing to expose their lives to the world.”

The star’s doco-series Mariah’s World, which follows Carey as she kicks off her Sweet Sweet Fantasy world tour, premiered on E! this week.

In the new show, Carey can been seen getting close with Tanaka — as members of her team voice their concerns about his “huge crush” on her.

However, in an interview with TV host Ellen DeGeneres, Carey said: “I think I’m doing well … No, I’m actually … Everything happens for a reason. Things are the way they are.”

Originally published as Mariah Carey’s toyboy Bryan Tanaka declares: ‘I love her so much’