[Picture 1 - Inside room 201 in the Hotel George V, Mariah, inspired by the sketches made by her friend Karl Lagerfeld on the day before and given to her as a gift, models for our photographer.]
For fifteen years, the career of the biggest selling female American singer has been a succession of triumphs and disasters. She came to Paris to encourage the winner of the show "Star Academy."
The only singer to equalize the record of Elvis and Beatles with more than 150 million records sold, the creator of "Heartbreaker" keeps her head cold. On December 16, she was the guest of honor of the finale of "Star Academy" and sang her new tune, "We Belong Together" in a duet with Magalie, the prize winner who had just got her award. A cordial simplicity, contrary to the haughty reserve that Madonna had expressed weeks earlier when she refused to sing with the candidates... Undoubtedly Mariah Carey thought, while encouraging the young beginner, about the difficult moments that she lived after the failure, in 2001, of her album "Glitter" and the homonymous movie. Now it's nothing but a bad memory since more than 6 million copies of "The Emancipation of Mimi" (Mercury - Universal), the album that marks her return to the top of the charts, were sold in a few months.
Would this be the result of the love for Mark Sudack, the producer who asked her in marriage and made her find again her siren body? More than a star, Mariah feels like a woman. The singer with eight octaves was hardly 2 years old when her mother, a professional singer of the Opera of New York, discovered Mariah's gifts while rehearsing the runs of "Rigoletto," which Mariah was repeating. But only with 20 years old the wonder made her true beginning. Debuting in the 73rd position in the hit parade in June 1990, her first album ("Mariah Carey") climbed two months later to the first place. The success lasted for one decade, Mariah being the only female singer appearing each year at the top of the charts, until 1999. Last was the fall. After "Glitter," her popularity was so low that the album "Charmbracelet" was released only one year after being recorded, in 2002. A crossing of the desert that seems to be incredible now that she found again the planetary success.
Mariah Carey: "When I arrived with my Irish mother and my black father, my class girlfriends took a disgusted air. When they did not cry!"
[Picture 2 - Allured by the kitchen of George V, Mariah does not resist the temptation of putting her hand at the frying pan. But it's difficult to make crepes jump and to telephone at the same time without dropping some eggs.]
"Are you ready? If you smoke you will take a chewing gum before meeting her, the odor disturbs her." Zoe doesn't know where she is nor with whom she speaks. Whereas her mobile sounds, her Blackberry indicates to him that she has just received nineteen e-mails in less than three minutes. The member of her team that takes care of the international press is almost famous as the star herself. She will not leave you alone, could almost answer the interviews for her and spends the time making sure that "everything is ok." Because it doesn't matter if she is in Paris, London, New York, Strait or Mexico City, Mariah needs as reference marks: a comfortably heated room, a great soft bed, a small kitchen, so that Jack, her jack-russell can have "his space," some candles and ten champagne bottles. And when you think you are finally allowed in the Holy of Holies, the two managers of the stars question you about your size, your weight and your musical taste. A rite of passage? No, a joke that will make them laugh before they introduce "the" diva to you, Mariah Carey.
Voluptuously installed on a leather sofa, the singer, a champagne glass in one hand, accommodates you like her best friend. "How are you? Haven't we already met?" Not really, but that's fine. The conversation begins on topics as major as the outside temperature, the hair of her dog (which should be cherished) and the charm of the business class of Air France. Very politely, she proposes a toast with her host. Then, a young lady emerges to avoid Mariah serving her guests. Wherever she goes, the ex-wife of Tommy Mottola always moves with twenty-four people. Now the star relaxed, the interview can start.
Mariah Carey: I smoked from 12 to 18 years. But I stopped, because I always wanted to sing. My mother was an opera singer and used to smoke permanently! When I was small, I hated the odor, I asked her to stop, that made me terribly sick. When I was 12 years old, I wanted to be cool, like all the girls from that time, and then I started to smoke. But when I started to write songs, to take this trade seriously, I understood it was better for me to quit. And I never touched again a cigarette. Now that makes me sick again. It's worse because I cannot attend the smoked out evenings, bars or nightclubs. Oh well...
Paris Match: Besides that, how are you?
Mariah Carey: My New York apartment has been in a make over for six months, therefore I still live in Los Angeles. Some things had to be carried out in a boat by the workmen. Besides that small concern, everything is fine.
PM: This year was formidable.
MC: Let me put it this straight. I agree, I had some difficult moments, but I do not have the feeling to have changed. I was a teenager who left Long Island and in which nobody believed. I had to fight to impose myself.
[Picture 3 - With her million albums, she gained some weight, but in the kitchen she always tries to lose some. Shortly after her appearance at "Star ac", this Paris lover poses on the Alexandre III Bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower, which scintillates. In less than half an hour she will have to leave the City of Lights to regain the United States.]
PM: What do you mean?
MC: The memories of my childhood are rough. I also had the struggle to exist between my father, who was black, and my mother, who was white. We lived in two communities. Neither one nor the other taught me the meaning of the word racism. But I had multiple times and occasions to understand it all by myself.
PM: Is that the reason why you left home when you were 16 years old?
MC: Probably... But even as an adult, I did not laugh [she pauses]. To be honest with you, I also had to struggle against men. I was always with boys older than me, and they would protect me, but also would lock me up inside a golden bubble. I saw people completely changing according to my success. And that prepared me for the disproportional reactions. Nobody can continuously be at the top.
PM: How did you overcome these last years, when you were not really on the top?
MC: I knew how to revitalize. If I were sad during a week after the failure of my last discs, that was the great maximum. I set out again very quickly on another project. There are people in this world who have much more reasons to suffer than me.
PM: What made you suffer more?
MC: It is never very pleasant to be followed by photographers in the early morning after just hearing the alarm clock to walk with your dog, But that's the law of the game. Now that I sold 7 million albums in six months, I prefer to just laugh at those bad memories.
PM: Did you have doubts?
MC: No. I am well surrounded. I finally know to whom I can make confidences, both musically and personally. I know where to put my feet, and it corresponds to me perfectly.
PM: You descended into hell after the release of the movie and album "Glitter," which was a disaster.
MC: Disaster is not the word. I should not have made this movie, I agree. But it's not the worst movie of all times! It was a difficult experience for me. Nobody was taking me seriously at that moment because I didn't know anymore where I was.
PM: "Glitter" was presented as your great return...
MC: [She stops] I thought I had finally left my problems with Tommy Mottola behind. But the album was released on September 11, 2001... It wasn't people's priority at the moment.
PM: What lessons did you learn with that failure?
MC: How I was roasted as an actress! (laughs). I really wanted to make movies, I love that. But the project that I did next wasn't noticed. I am not the kind of person that drops an idea when it doesn't work. As soon as I feel a new scenario, I will try again. I just hope someone will be able to trust again in my acting talents...
PM: Did you think about stopping at all?
MC: They say that, at this point of my life, as soon as someone would say that I am not capable of doing something, I would do it just to prove that I am capable of doing it. But history proved that it is necessary to retreat, be serene and to not invest in anything. I cannot be successful in everything.
PM: Are you reassured by the success of your new album?
MC: I thought I had reached tops that I would never reach again. "The Emancipation Of Mimi" was the most played album in the American radios last year, and it exceeds all my preceding records of diffusion... We are never safe from a good surprise!
[Picture 4 - As her stay in France finishes, Mariah goes to the airport Le Bourget in the back of her Maserati Quattroporte. According to the rumor, the ring she raises on her right side was Mark Sudack's engagement gift.]
[Picture 5 - A private jet of the Signature company awaited the star on the tarmac. In a few minutes, as soon as she is installed on board, the apparatus will fly away to New York.]
PM: What is missing now?
MC: He! (laughs)
PM: What are you waiting for?
MC: In these last years, I lived rather complicated relationships with men, as you certainly know. I was scalded enough... Except for Doug Morris, the world director of Universal, in whom I really have confidence. During my life I met a lot of people who would say how much formidable I am, beautiful and exceptional. It's a quite relative notion of positive criticism... Everyone is not rotted as much. But I needed somebody to be the extreme opposite and say to me: "Mariah, you are mistaken."
PM: During your marriage with Tommy Mottola, could you have this kind of discussion?
MC: Tommy did what he wanted with me because I was young. He controlled every minimum detail in my life, he didn't leave me with any freedom. He was my manager, my husband and my owner. With him, I learned more about men than about the music industry...
PM: What do you mean?
MC: I have so many examples! Everyone feared him. One evening, I decided to take along a friend to Burger King to make like we used to do like in the old days. When I returned, he bombarded me with questions: "Where were you? With whom? Why? You should have remained here working!" It was not a healthy relation. He passed his life putting pressure on me. I never had any extra-marital adventures, I am not that kind who makes love with a man to mislead my husband! Tommy suspected permanently about me. Then he locked me up.
PM: Do you regret to have married him?
MC: I don't know. He pushed me to marry him. He could manage, deal with the others, but he went too far. He wanted to take my heart. I fell in love with the paternal figure which he represented in my eyes. At the same time, I did not exist, but he did everything for my career. Together, we worked a lot. We connected the albums with success. But I was a young person, too young probably... I had evil to regard me as a married woman... When I look at the photographs of this time, I have the impression to be dealing with another person. At 22 years old, I was much framed and very popular at the same time. I had evil to live it.
PM: If you have had a child with Tommy, perhaps you would have lived that period differently.
MC: There was no question about having a child with Tommy. I were concentrated too much on my career, it was the only thing that mattered. Today, I feel guilty because of my excess of naivety. I regret having divorced, like my parents eventually...
PM: You said a few moments ago that your childhood was not very happy.
MC: My parents divorced when I was 3 years old. I always lived between their two houses. I did not have a positive image of the marriage. I remember very well, when I was little, to say to my mother "I will never marry!" She understood very well the reason why I said that.
PM: How was your mother?
MC: She has an Irish origin, she had a free spirit like Bohemian. She did not hesitate, in the sixties, to marry a black man... She liked it, she was ready for everything. Her family did not speak to her for years, but she made fun about it. All the time there were musicians in the house, who played, composed... I grew freely...
PM: You spent your weekends with your father...
MC: It is strange. I was more at ease in the black districts than in the white districts. However, when I came with my friends to his place, I did not specify that he was black. For me, it wasn't a problem. But when he opened the door, my girlfriends always had an air of dislike, when they did not cry. A child does not forget this kind of reaction. America of the eighties, especially in Long Island, did not like the differences.
PM: How did you look after yourself?
MC: By writing songs! It is a therapy. One doesn't always have to take it seriously, but that enabled me to get rid of all my problems. It was my manner of taking me by the hand and to escape from all that. They often say I have a strong character, that I never crack... When you have the suffering related to racism in your childhood, you become harder inevitably.
PM: Are you alone today?
MC: I am not alone! There is God! The religion enables me to have something in which I can believe.
PM: You don't believe anymore in men?
MC. It is not the same kind of love...
PM: Are you thinking about having kids in the near future?
MC: I do not know if I would be able to raise a child while being famous. He would not have the choice, he would inevitably be under the flashes... I do not want to offer this way of life to him. I am rather old maid sometimes, but I would like to have a husband, who would make a good father, and a large house before having a child. At the moment, I only have the dog!
Thanks to Joao for the translation and Alex' for the scans!
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