Mariah Carey says Derek Jeter affair was ‘catalyst’ to ending troubled marriage

Mariah Carey has opened up about how her affair with Derek Jeter served as a ‘catalyst’ to ending her troubled first marriage.

The 50-year-old singer started seeing baseball star Jeter while she was still married to Tommy Mottola, 71, who was the music executive who first discovered her.

Mariah has spoken out on an upcoming edition of Oprah Conversations in which she said that some of her songs were even inspired by her secret relationship with Jeter.

The chart-topping singer said: “He was a catalyst that helped me get out of that relationship, because I had believed that there was somebody else.

“But he was also very ambiguous looking to me. I didn’t know who he was.”

Mariah admits it may not have been the “love of my life” but the affair happened at a time when she knew that her marriage was no bed of roses.

She continued: “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, what’s the word?

“I used the word, and I just thought about this last night.

“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.”

Speaking about how it affected her marriage, Mariah added: “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 said that the exposure she got to another world helped her. She said: “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.”

Speaking to Vulture recently, Mariah said that the affair with Jeter did begin during her first marriage, which was from 1993 to 1998.

She also revealed that The Roof and My All, two songs from her Butterfly album in 1997, were about the baseball star.

In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir The Meaning Of Mariah, she said that she met Derek at a dinner party, and their romance began with a “text-flirting” exchange.

She the secretly met him on the rooftop of his building and they kissed in the rain while drinking Champagne.

Mariah admitted: “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 Sing Sing, under those rules and regulations.”

Mariah has said that she felt Tommy wouldn’t allow her to do anything and she named her marital home after the infamous prison, Sing Sing.

Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at [email protected] or call us direct 0207 29 33033