By Neia Balao
3:00pm PST, Dec 20, 2022
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To celebrate the debut of "Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All!" — a two-hour concert special airing on CBS on Dec. 20, 2022, at 8 p.m. ET and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+ — Wonderwall.com has rounded up all the ways the iconic diva is nothing like the rest of us…
1994's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is one of Mariah's biggest claims to fame. But does that give her the right to be called the Queen of Christmas? Well, she seems to think so! In March 2021, Mariah filed an application to trademark the term "Queen of Christmas" for use in many of her projects and products. After her bid went public in July 2022, other women who've been called the Queen of Christmas over the years were infuriated. Full-time holiday singer Elizabeth Chan, for example, released an album entitled "Queen of Christmas" in 2021. According to Variety, Elizabeth filed a declaration of opposition to Mariah's trademark request: "Christmas [came] way before any of us on earth, and hopefully will be around way after any of us on earth. And I feel very strongly that no one person should hold onto anything around Christmas or monopolize it in the way that Mariah seeks to in perpetuity. That's just not the right thing to do. Christmas is for everyone. It's meant to be shared; it's not meant to be owned," said Elizabeth. Fair point! Unfortunately, Mariah can't call herself "Queen of Christmas" — at least not legally. On Nov. 15, 2022, the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denied the Grammy winner's attempt to trademark "Queen of Christmas," "Princess Christmas" and "Christmas Princess," TMZ reported.
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MORE: Mariah Carey's life in photos
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A home fit for a queen! Mariah Carey listed her sprawling Atlanta estate for $6.5 million in September 2022, TMZ reported. The 12,575-square-foot colonial-style home where she hunkered down during the coronavirus pandemic sits on 4 acres of gated land and includes nine bedrooms, nine bathrooms, tennis courts, a theater, a gym, a pool house and a recording booth on the third floor! In October 2022, Mariah reportedly lowered her asking price by $500,000 — but $5.99 million is still way beyond our reach! "It was a perfect moment during COVID, but I will continue to spend time in New York City, my long-term residence," she told the "Today" show via Ansley Real Estate Christie's International.
MORE: Mariah Carey's biggest career moments
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Ever wonder how Mariah Carey makes all her dough? Well, a large part of it comes from her iconic 1994 holiday track. According to a December 2021 report from TMZ, musicians on Spotify earn approximately .003 to .004 cents per single streamed on the platform. "All I Want For Christmas Is You" has more than 1.329 billion streams as of December 2022, which means Mariah's earned between $4 million and $5.3 million from Spotify streams alone!
MORE: Stars getting into the holiday spirit in 2022
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Must be nice! For New Year's Eve in 2019, Mariah Carey traveled to the Dominican Republic with boyfriend Bryan Tanaka and her twins from her second marriage, Moroccan and Monroe Cannon. In typical Mimi style, they enjoyed some stellar digs — they spent just over a week in the Juanillo Estates in the luxurious community of Cap Cana. Their lavish property included 40,000 square feet of interior space, a private beach, a stunning wraparound pool, two kitchens and nine bedrooms. As for how much it costs to stay at the $30 million estate? A cool $18K a night.
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While visiting "Live with Kelly and Ryan" in November 2018, Mariah Carey revealed that her twins, Moroccan and Monroe Cannon, have literally been listening to her music since they were born. The "Always Be My Baby" singer made a playlist of her own music to blast in the delivery room in April 2011. "I made a playlist. They came out to 'Fantasy,' the live version from Madison Square Garden with the applause," Mariah said. "I wanted them to feel the applause when they were first born."
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Ever wear a piece of clothing so heavy you needed several people to carry it? Such is the reality for Mariah Carey! On a December 2021 episode of the talk show "Lorraine," the "Fantasy" singer revealed that the gold Dolce & Gabbana gown (pictured) she donned in her 2021 Apple TV+ holiday special, "Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues," weighed around 60 pounds! "It required six grown men to carry the train of that dress to get me down the stairs," she said, as reported by Page Six, joking that she sometimes has five or six grown men on deck to help her with her couture depending "on the beading." She also told Vogue of the couture gown, "The dress itself took 250 hours to bead. … Everybody was like, 'Oh, she's exaggerating [about the weight],' until they held it for two seconds. The beading is not your average beading. The stones themselves were gigantic, but they still looked beautiful and shined. It was magnificent, but it hurt like a mother to wear it." How glamorous!
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Bath bombs and bubbles? Nah, Mariah Carey prefers milk! During an interview with The Guardian in 2018, the "Hero" hitmaker debunked some rumors, including that she exclusively bathes in French mineral water. "No, I bathe in milk… Yes, sometimes I use milk as a beauty treatment. I don't want to give away all my secrets," she shared. When asked whether the milk she bathes in is hot or cold, Mariah confirmed, "cold milk."
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We could never fathom having so much money at stake. Before she found love with her choreographer boyfriend, Bryan Tanaka, Mariah Carey was engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer. Following their split in 2016, the "Obsessed" singer demanded quite a bit of money for her troubles — and while she received a good chunk of change in the settlement, it was still reportedly far from what she'd initially asked for. According to The Blast, Mimi and James struck a deal that resulted in her getting to keep her 35-carat diamond engagement ring and score a few million dollars. Between the ring and the cash, she reportedly walked away with between $5 million and $10 million — about one-tenth to one-fifth of the $50 million she'd reportedly demanded following their breakup in October 2016. TMZ also quoted a Mariah source who claimed that James did "something awful" to the pop star's assistant on a yacht in Greece, though they didn't specify what. "Mariah and James had a fight in Greece, and have not seen each other since," the star's rep told "Entertainment Tonight" at the time. "The fight was not because of any cheating allegations or excessive spending by Mariah." Mariah, TMZ reported, was so traumatized by the incident she had to cancel the South American leg of her tour, which also factored into her $50 million request.
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It's totally normal to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single prop for a music video, right? In February 2017, Mariah Carey released the music video for her track "I Don't," which showed the icon throwing a $250,000 custom-made Valentino gown into a fire pit. The dress held some pretty savage significance too — it was the one she planned to wear to wed Australian billionaire James Packer, from whom she split in 2016. Guess she isn't a fan of repurposing clothes!
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Mariah Carey has definitely mastered the art of gift giving! In April 2017, the mama of two threw a 44th birthday party for her then-manager, Stella Bulochnikov, at celebrity hotspot Catch LA, where she presented the birthday girl with a serious token of appreciation. An insider told the New York Post that while Mariah's own music was blasting from the restaurant's speakers, she reportedly wheeled out a $34,000 Louis Vuitton trunk from the back room while carrying sparklers. Waitresses followed Mariah with more sparklers and some champagne. "Stella was all smiles from beginning to end," said the source, adding that her daughters gave her a Balenciaga bag to make the night even sweeter.
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Finding out that celebrities have insured certain parts of their body for large sums of money isn't atypical, but Mariah Carey puts many of them to shame with her numbers. In 2016, TMZ reported that the "When You Believe" singer had insured her vocal cords and hamstrings for a combined $70 million. The outlet's source said that Mariah and her team got a $35 million policy for her voice and another $35 million policy for her hamstrings. Sheesh!
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In November 2017, Mariah Carey was immortalized at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Of course, a major part of the monumental ceremony is putting your hands and feet in wet cement — something the self-proclaimed "Queen of Christmas" wasn't exactly keen on doing. Instead, Mariah kept her shoes on. As demonstrated in this photo, the songstress was assisted by three men as she dipped her $900 Christian Louboutin heels in the cement. "I have this picture of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell when they were doing their imprint ceremony. It's an iconic photograph, and I have it hanging in my living room," Mariah told Variety of being enshrined at the Chinese Theatre. "It's something that feels humbling, and I feel honored by it."
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Mariah Carey's dogs probably enjoy a higher standard of living than we do! Over Memorial Day weekend in 2017, the diva spent quality time with boyfriend Bryan Tanaka, twins Moroccan and Monroe Cannon and her Jack Russell terriers Cha Cha (pictured) and Jill E Beans in Napa Valley, California. According to a Page Six source, "Never one to leave her beloved pups behind, the pop sensation used on-demand dog-walking service Wag to pamper the pooches with long walks among the vineyards." Mimi even took to Instagram to speak about her dogs' luxurious wine country stay. "Cha Cha's got her own app for ordering dog walkers on demand!" she wrote alongside a snap of herself holding her dog. "Thanks @wag for the complimentary walks for life!" A sponsored post and a major perk? Only for Mariah!
