Mariah Carey: I Feel Like an ATM Machine With a Wig

Diva-licious Mariah Carey talks about her struggle with fame, being called a “diva” and reconciling with her father in the new issue of Parade, out Sunday.

On showing her emotions easily and being eager to please: “My self-esteem has never been topping the charts. You don’t know who is here for the glamour, for the gossip factor. You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. That’s a difficult thing when, you know… (pauses) Sometimes you just do really feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it.”

On her mother Patricia Hickey: “I must give my mother credit for really inspiring and encouraging me to sing. She was an opera singer and went to Juilliard. She still sings and was a classically trained musician. I’m not a technical person, so I went the other way and got into R&B because I can just do whatever and sing whatever comes to mind. But she instilled the belief in me that I could become who I am today. She tells a story about when she was rehearsing a part of the opera Rigoletto, and I stopped her and said, ‘No, you made a mistake, it goes like this,’ and sang it back to her in another language at 4 years old. So my mother thought, ‘Okay, she has an ear.’”

Check out the gallery of new Mariah photos at Parade.com and more interview quotes here.

Mariah’s latest album, E=MC², drops in stores April 15. Bigger cover pic here.