When pop music icon Mariah Carey admitted that Derek Jeter was the impetus she needed to get out of her toxic relationship with Tommy Mottola

In the late 1990s, pop icon Mariah Carey dated Derek Jeter, a former player for the New York Yankees. Carey admitted that Jeter was the impetus she needed to get out of her toxic relationship with Tommy Mottola.

During a special episode of "The Oprah Conversation" focused on kids, Carey was candid and open about her past marriage to Mottola and her romantic involvement with Jeter.

Carey responded that Jeter motivated her to break up with Mottola when Oprah questioned her about how he had served a very high purpose in her life. She also mentioned the stormy night she shared her first kiss with Jeter on the apartment's roof.

Mariah Carey said, "I mean, it’s not like it was some intensely deep, intellectually stimulating — again, it was a great moment, and it happened in a divine way because it helped me get past living there, in Sing Sing, under those rules and regulations."

Mottola and Carey were wed for five years in the 1990s, and it wasn't an easy journey. Carey acknowledged that Mottola had a "controlling" personality in her memoirs. She continued by saying that she was forbidden from speaking with anyone "that wasn't under Tommy's control."

Mariah Carey's revelation about Derek Jeter

Derek and Mariah Carey were well-known individuals in the late 1990s. When Carey's autobiography "The Meaning of Mariah Carey" was released in September 2020, the 54-year-old singer shared some never-before-seen facts.

Mariah talked openly about various subjects, including her brief romance with former New York Yankees player Derek Jeter. She mentioned that Derek was the second man she ever slept with in her book, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey."

Mariah and Derek dated from 1997 until 1998. They struck up a conversation after meeting at a party. When Mariah was still married to music business tycoon Tommy Mottola, she began dating Derek.