Mariah Carey talks bipolar disorder, being biracial and having low self-esteem

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ABC/Randy HolmesIn a new interview with U.K.’s The Guardian, Mariah Carey opens up about her bipolar disorder and growing up biracial.  The singer, who revealed her diagnosis with bipolar II disorder in April, tells the publication that she believes her illness can be traced back to her rough childhood.

“It was a combination of being biracial and experiencing the darker side of life,” she says. “My mom experienced a lot of racism as an opera singer because she was married to a black man.”

Mariah adds that she also suffers from “very low self-esteem.”

“I had to go through so much in my childhood just to feel accepted and feel worthy of existing on Earth because I felt so different from everybody else growing up,” she explains. “Because I was biracial, because I was so ambiguous-looking and because we didn’t have the money to escape whatever the everyday realities of life were.”

Mariah says her self-esteem is highest when “I record a song and listen back to a bit and feel good about everything about it. There’s a sense of accomplishment in the work.”

During the interview, she also clears up some bizarre rumors about herself. No, she did not ask for 20 white kittens and 100 white doves on her concert rider. She also doesn’t insist on a new toilet seat and gold bathroom fixtures whenever she stays at a hotel.

And as for the rumor that she only bathes in French mineral water — “No, I bathe in milk,” she says.

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