Mariah Carey’s ‘Messed-Up’ Childhood Is Why She Loves Christmas, Gives Her Kids Over-the-Top Gifts

Not always a Christmas queen. While Mariah Carey’s name has become synonymous with the festive holiday, her childhood wasn’t regal.

“I know a lot of the time people are like, ‘Oh, yay! Look at her! She’s, like, so festive and such a Christmas girl,’ or whatever. But, really, Christmas makes me happy. People think I had this princess-style life or whatever, a kind of fairy-tale existence where I just emerged, like, ‘Here I am!’ And that is not what it is,” Carey, 52 told W magazine in a profile published on Friday, November 25.

She continued: “But when you grow up with a messed-up life and then you’re able to have this transformation where you can make your life what you want it to be? That is joy for me. That’s why I want my kids to have everything they can have. I want them to be able to understand that they can be anything they want to be.”

The “Without You” songstress became a mother in April 2011, welcoming twins Monroe and Moroccan with ex-husband Nick Cannon. (The Masked Singer host, 42, is also father to 9 other kids and is currently expecting baby No. 12, his second with Alyssa Scott.) As Carey and Cannon continue to coparent their twins, the Grammy Award winner goes all out for the holiday season.

“I create my own Christmas moment. I mean, Santa Claus visits us. He comes with his reindeer. I am not exaggerating — this is the truth,” the New York native told W. “By the way, before my kids were born, I did all the same types of things. That’s just how it is with me and Santa and the reindeer.”

She added: “I love giving them gifts because the act of opening up a ton of presents is something I wasn’t able to do as a child.”

The Meaning of Mariah Carey author kicked off her 2022 festivities with a rendition of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 24. As Carey crooned her hit song, the 11-year-olds made surprise cameos as they popped out of present boxes to dance alongside their mama.

“Happy Thanksgiving!!!🍁,” the Christmas Princess author wrote via Instagram on Thursday, sharing footage from the NBC broadcast. “Grateful and so proud of my beautiful kids Roc and Roe, grateful for the lambily and for the precious moments in life. ❤️❤️❤️ Now it’s reaaaallly time!!! 🎄🎅🏼.”