Mariah Carey’s relationship with former Sony Music head Tommy Mottola started as a fairytale. The mogul signed the then-18-year-old starlet to a recording deal in 1988 and helped her achieve stardom by the release of her June 1990 self-titled debut. The two began dating and were wed in a lavish ceremony at New York’s St. Thomas Episcopal Church on June 5, 1993. However, by 1997, Carey filed for divorce, claiming that Mottola, 20 years her senior,...
more Mariah Carey’s relationship with former Sony Music head Tommy Mottola started as a fairytale. The mogul signed the then-18-year-old starlet to a recording deal in 1988 and helped her achieve stardom by the release of her June 1990 self-titled debut. The two began dating and were wed in a lavish ceremony at New York’s St. Thomas Episcopal Church on June 5, 1993. However, by 1997, Carey filed for divorce, claiming that Mottola, 20 years her senior, was too controlling. “It felt like suddenly I had a strict father,” she told
Interview magazine in 2007. “With Tommy it felt like I had this controlling situation where I wasn’t allowed to be myself.” However, after their divorce was finalized in February 1998, tension between the two ensued. Mottola has been accused of sabotaging Carey’s career, prompting her 2001 breakdown. (See more in Jennifer Lopez entry.) Mottola will reportedly discuss his marriage to Carey in his book,
Hitmaker: The Man And His Music, due out in January 2013. (photo: Ron Galella, WireImage)
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