Can Anyone Really Blame Mariah Carey for ‘Leaving’ the Real World?

Rich & Famous October 10, 2025

Mariah Carey isn’t like the rest of us. From the moment she opens her mouth and that voice pours out, she is in a different universe. But the singer knows it. In fact, she has said outright that she feels “incapable of being in the real world.” And if you have followed her story at all, it is not hard to understand why.

Being Mariah Carey means living under a microscope while balancing fame, pressure, and expectation. And at some point, she just said: Enough!

Carey has just released her new album “Her For It All.”

Mariah Carey Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Back in 2016, the “Fantasy” hitmaker, now 56, had a rough New Year’s Eve performance on live TV. The technical glitches were brutal. But her comment afterward stole the spotlight. She said, “I literally am incapable of being in the real world and surviving.” The singer continued: “Just like I wouldn’t understand somebody who had a desk job.”

To her, that world is foreign. Alarms, commutes, office chatter, lunch breaks? Not even on her radar. She has spent most of her life in studios, on tour buses, and in front of flashing lights. This is her normal. So, of course, a 9-to-5 life feels like a myth.

The Persona Became the Reality

Carey has been saying this for years. Her reality show “Mariah’s World” aired in 2016, and even then, she admitted she couldn’t tell what was real anymore. One reviewer said she was “playing a version of herself,” but the truth is that version is her.

Every scene in the show was curated, glossy, and surreal. It looked like a performance of perfection. And maybe that is the point. Being Mariah Carey means living in a constant blur of who you are, who people think you are, and who you are expected to be.

Mariah / IG / It is easy to roll your eyes at celebs who say they are out of touch. But Mariah Carey isn’t trying to fake relatability. She is rich, famous, and she has lived a life full of diamond-studded everything.

People love her for being over the top, but the second she stumbles, she is torn apart. That is the impossible double standard. Be glamorous, but be “real.” Show your life, but don’t seem too happy. It is no wonder she has retreated from public life in any normal sense.

Fame Tried to Eat Her Alive

The early 2000s were brutal for female celebrities. The media tore them down like it was a sport. Mariah Carey was no exception. In 2001, she had a public breakdown, and instead of sympathy, she got jokes and gossip columns. Her movie “Glitter” flopped, and suddenly people treated her like a punchline.

Looking back now, many realize the media was cruel, and the public even crueler. No one was protecting her. And when you have lived through that kind of storm, why would you ever try to blend back into a world that mocked you when you were most vulnerable?

Mariah / IG / Mariah Carey is more than a pop star. She is a vocal powerhouse with a range no one else can touch. Even on her “worst” day, she sounds better than most on their best.

Her holiday music alone turned into a whole economy. But talent didn’t shield her from pain. If anything, it made her a target.

But instead of being celebrated, she was often controlled, belittled, or manipulated. Her success didn’t come with protection. It came with pressure.

Mariah’s 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” peeled back the layers. She wrote about growing up poor in Long Island, isolated because of her mixed-race family. Her home life was chaotic.