Mariah Carey proved her status as the ultimate pop diva in a recent interview when she opened up about the ageing process, despite appearing as youthful as ever.
The legendary singer set the record straight about ageing while speaking to Harper's Bazaar UK ahead of the release of her latest album, Here For It All.
The passage of time
"I don't allow it – it just doesn't happen," Mariah said of getting older. "I don't know time. I don't know numbers. I do not acknowledge time – I have a new song that starts with that line."
The 56-year-old added that her diva personality was an integral part of her brand and allowed her more freedom to speak her mind.
"It's part of my job. What's the point of a disguise? Just get up, get dressed, go out," she said. "If I don't want to be seen, I'll stay home."
Mariah is infamous for her diva ways and has refused to have her picture taken in the past if the lighting is not right for her. "I can't with the overhead lighting. Why do they do it to us? I shouldn't say us, it's not us. It's me," she quipped on the Las Culturistas podcast in 2024.
"I'm the one who's the most tortured by the hideous lighting in every elevator, doorways, gyms – not that I go to the gym. But I'm just saying, it's hideous lighting."
She added that "the sun is okay if it's sunset", but that she was wary of UV rays.
"But overhead lighting, I don't think so, honey," Mariah declared. "Everywhere I go, shut the lights. Turn them out. I don't want to see them no more."
The mother of two has been tight-lipped about her beauty secrets in the past, yet did reveal to The Guardian in 2018 that taking milk baths was a crucial part of her routine.
"I bathe in milk," she told the publication. "Sometimes I use milk as a beauty treatment. I don't want to give away all my secrets."
Mariah's next move
Mariah is entering a brand new era as she prepares for the release of her 16th studio album, which comes seven years after her last project, Caution.
The "Hero" singer shared rare insight into the album in an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden, revealing that her new music will explore "who I am today, and the last ten years, the last 14 years".
"What is next? The album coming out," she explained. "I don't wanna tell too much about it because I just don't want to reveal the whole thing."
She added that it was "finished" and contained some highly-anticipated "Mariah ballads".
Her lead single "Type Dangerous" ranked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June, and she recently released the second single "Sugar Sweet" with Kehlani.
The Glitter actress is also gearing up for a Las Vegas residency to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her landmark 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi.
Learn more about Mariah's hilarious relationship with bad lighting below...