Preloading

Mariah Carey on Her Biracial Struggle: "Nobody Could Fully Understand My Experience"

Aired on 11/09/1999 | CC
In 1999, Oprah sat down with Mariah Carey and her mom, Pat, to talk about the discrimination their interracial family had experienced—first, when Mariah was growing up in a predominantly white town, and later, when the family moved to a more racially diverse neighborhood. In the interview, Pat opens up about their struggle to become homeowners as an interracial couple, threatening encounters with ignorant neighbors and her own family's denial of her Black husband. Mariah says that despite all of it, she's proud of who she is and celebrates her status as a role model for other biracial kids who feel alone and misunderstood.