Mariah Carey claims ‘people have never recognised’ she’s ‘always had low self-esteem’

MARIAH Carey might exude confidence and command respect but the fame the reigning diva queen boasts hasn’t always been a walk in the park.

AMID the glitz of her current tour, diva Mariah Carey has spoken about being a long-time sufferer of “low self-esteem” and remembers what it was like being a broke aspiring singer.

At Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Carey exclusively told Page Six, in an all-white room filled with Jo Malone candles, “I just feel like I am a regular human being and I deserve the same respect as anybody else. I have always had low self-esteem, and people do not recognise that.”

But she added, “I can’t measure what type of respect I deserve — I really can’t.”

Mariah Carey claims she’s had low self-esteem for years. Picture: Jean-Baptiste Lacroix

Carey is on the road with Lionel Richie for their All the Hits tour until September.

One review called her Madison Square Garden show a “bizarre yet entertaining hour,” while another praised its “full-schmaltz escapism,” with Carey sitting on a throne as a team touches up her makeup and being carried around by hunks.

Carey says that on the inside she feels less regal.

“Growing up different, being bi-racial, 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, because it helped me overcome those issues,” she said. “Sometimes it is hard to let your guard down.”

Carey performs for her All The Hits tour. Picture: Nicholas Hunt

Of those around her, she says, “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.”

The singer was also candid about life before being one of the world’s most famous singers, revealing she barely had money to eat.

“I remember it not being easy getting a record deal. Making demos in the middle of the night, sleeping on the floor in the studio, being broke with no food. My go-to meal was [Newman’s Own] sauce. Me and my friend would split the 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 said.

Obviously, things are a little different for Carey these days.

“I am working on a new fragrance. 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,” she said.

Spies said that Carey was later at Philippe, a high-end Chinese restaurant in New York, with younger beau Bryan Tanaka where “they snuggled and kissed through the post-concert party.” Because of Carey’s towering heels and tight dress, Tanaka had to help her up and down the stairs.

Carey and her boyfriend Bryan Tanaka. Picture: FilmMagic

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and has been republished here with permission.

Originally published as Mariah Carey claims ‘people have never recognised’ she’s ‘always had low self-esteem’