"You wanna see something funny?" asks Mariah Carey, standing in the spacious kitchen of her
new townhouse appartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Carey walks over to an oil painting
hanging on a wall opposite an enormous stained-glass window and a towering 19th century cabinet.
The work includes a a certain delicate, winged creature for which the singer named her latest
multiplatinum CD: the butterfly. "I noticed it after I moved in," she says in her husky, sultry voice.
"Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go." Inscribed near the top are the Latin words
levior aura, which translate as "lighter than the breeze." But for Carey, the painting has something to
do with freedom.
Certainly, freedom has been major theme in this 28-yearold superstar's recent history. Shortly
before releasing Butterfly last September, Carey announced her separation from from Sony Music
Entertainment president and CEO Tommy Mottola, the man who discovered her in 1989 and
married her four years later. While the couple, who remain on amicable terms, fielded offers for the
mansion they had built (complete with indoor pool, ballroom, and recording studio) and decorated
together on a secluded suburban estate in Bedford, New York, Carey embarked on a diligent
search for a place of her own. That search instinctively led the Long Island native to the Big Apple.
"I remember being 5 or 6 years old, looking out from the back of a car, thinking, I'm gonna live in
the city one day!" Carey recalls.
So, last year, Carey leased three floors of this townhouse in one of the city's most elegant
enclaves. It's a comfortable setting for Carey, who in spite of her newly liberated status and
penchant for staying hip to the latest music and fashions also craves security and stability. "The thing
about me is I always felt like an outsider," she says. "That's partly because I'm multiracial"--Carey's
mother, a former opera singer, is Irish-American; her father is a black Venezuelan--"and partly of
not having much money when I was a kid." Her parents spilt up when Mariah was a toddler and;
after that Carey and her older brother and sister moved around Long Island with her mother, who
often had to struggle to make ends meet.
Life with Motolla was far steadier. "[With him] I was definetly in more of a controlled
environment than I'd ever been in, and that was an important part of my growth. Now I feel more
independant, more comfortable being alone." Not that the best selling female vocalist of the
decade--Carey has sold more than 90 million records--is exactly spending her days and nights in
total solitude. She has a new love interest in New York Yankee star shortstop Derek Jeter (more
about that later) and has also set her sights on a movie career. Later this year, she begins shooting
the action comedy Double-oo-Soul; in addition, she is developing a script and soundtrack for a
dramatic film centered on a family musical act. Most significantly, Carey is feeling at ease in her own
skin, and in the city she loves. "Before, it was a big drama for me to call a cab by myself. Now I
walk around and do what I want."
To Make the transition from living in a giant manor to living by herself, Carey wanted a sizable
place with a homey feel. The townhouse clearly fit the bill. "It felt like home the minute i stepped into
it," Carey says. "And you know what's great? I can get up in the middle of the night and get
something to eat, and I don't feel like there's a goblib lurking behind the door. Being in a humongous
house out in the country can be frightening. I was a beautiful place, but kind of formal and imposing.
This feels cozy."
Part of that coziness can be attributed to the way the current owner, an investment banker in his
early 30s, furnished it. Carey says she favors the rich, warm tones that dominate the appartment,
from the deep red accents in the guest bedroom to the abundance of cherrywood and mahogany.
She is equally pleased with the limestone fireplace in the living room--one of five fireplaces in the
apartment. "That's something I would have chosen. It's very me."
Carey has also peppered the place up with distinctly personal touches. Photos of her at various
ages--as a toddler on the beach, as an adolescent with her mom, as an adult with Diana Ross--are
everywhere, alongside shots of her friends, relatives, and numerous pets (among them, her dear,
departed cat, Clarence, and, of course, terrier, Jack). There is more butterfly paraphernalia as well,
from hair clips to jewelry boxes; Carey explains that her pals, who call her M.C., have been
lavishing such trinkets on her since the album came out. In the kitchenare two framed letters from
Bill Clinton. "I hope to hear you in person someday," the President scribbled on one.
But it is the basement that Carey's impact on the appartment is most obvious. She has converted
it into a huge walk-through closet, complete with a beauty area boasting a professional-style chair
for fails and electrolysis ("People see it and are like, 'What, do you get denistry done in here?'").
Even so, Carey is reluctant to buy this home because it lacks the the space "for a workout facility,
and all that jazz"--"that jazz" meaning storage space for clothes and shoes, of which she has a
mind-boggling supply. The singer often has to throw on a robe and ride down on an elevator--which
she shares with the family living above her in the townhouse--simply to get dressed.
Carey's clothes are neatly aranged and scrupulously color-coordinated. Pants, dresses, jackets,
miniskirts, halter tops, T-shirts, and handbags form rows and rows and stacks and stacks. While
living in the Bedford house, where she had even more space, Carey "was so orgranized, I had my
clothes numbered," she laughs, pointing to a marked tag on one jacket as proof. Her wardrobe
reveals a personal style that veers toward the funky and formfitting, a look that her tall (5-foot9),
slim ("I go down to a 4 and up to an 8 or 10 when I'm bloated"), perfectly proportioned frame
readily accomadates. A favorite item at the moment is a white elastic tube top ("Seven dollars!" she
boasts playfully); she shuns blazers though, preferring to slip a short black leather-and-nylon over
her painted on jeans.
An anomaly in Carey's jacket collection is a hulking navy-blue number emblazoned with the New
York Yankee's logo. "I went to a game the other day and it got cold, so I bought on," Carey says
coyly. Without much pressing, she tells the real story: The rumors that she is dating Derek Jeter are
true. She met him, she says, about a year ago, and their relationship from a friendship strengthened
by the commom ground they share. "His mom is Irish and his father is black--same thing as me. I
never had met anyone like that, and that's always been a big part of who I am.
Of course, as the ex-wife of a prominent entertainment industry figure, Carey understands that
celebrity couplings can be tricky afairs, partically for those who crave privacy. "It's bad enought
when one public person is involved," she says. "But with two, it's really hard to have something to
yourself." Also, after moving to Manhattan--she stayed in hotels until finding her appartment--Carey
quickly developed a reputation as a night owl. "Since I didn't really get out in the past, I tend to go
overboard these days," she says. "[But] to get my voice into a good place, I have to sleep. When
I'm touring, I feel like a hermit. My dancers and singers will all be out having fun, and I'm in bed,
like, Woe is me."
Her social schedule in New York involves dining out in certain restaurants so frequently that the
maître d's know her favorite foods. During a recent visit to a gourmet Chinesehot spot, for example,
two dishes--chicken with walnuts and leeks and prawns brushed with Grand Marnier--were
ordered on her behalf.
Carey is not a womam who obsessively diets to her figure in check. Her secret: moderation--and
good genes. "I'm not one of those inherently skinny people, but I'm naturally pretty muscular. If I ate
a lot at night, I'd get fat like everyone else. But I don't love something, I won't eat it." For exercise
she does sit-ups and leg raises at night, and occasionally she jogs.
The appartment has turned dark by the time Carey returns from the basement, and the singer
settles onto the livingroom sofa and savors a recent memory. "I had Easter in the appartment, and it
was very nice. I had guests, friends--some of the people we talked about before," she says with a
telling smile. "It wasn't stressful, you know? For so long everything was a stress-fest. I used to think
that that was penance for success." Carey leans back, stretches her arms, and sighs contentedly.
"Now I'm just trying to enjoy my life."
In Style, July/98, cover story
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