Between 1997 and 1998, Mariah Carey and Derek Jeter dated. During this time, she was still technically married to her first husband , Tommy Mottola, though the couple had separated a year prior. Carey fell hard for Jeter, writing several love songs about him.
She said that while she felt she was taking a major risk every time she saw him, it felt worth it. Mariah Carey felt she was taking a major risk with Derek Jeter Mottola was such a controlling partner that Carey began to refer to their home as Sing Sing. While she was still married to him, she met Jeter at a dinner party.
At first she thought he seemed “rather pedestrian,” but he caught her attention when she learned that he, like her, had an Irish mother and a Black father. “It was as if suddenly I could see him,” she wrote in her book The Meaning of Mariah Carey . “Derek was definitely no longer pedestrian; he was closer to a Prince Charming.
This first moment of connection was so profound.” They spoke for the rest of the night and she discreetly gave him her contact information. He began to make her feel as though she could escape Mottola’s control.
“Planning and communicating with Derek felt like someone had smuggled a file into my jail cell,” Carey wrote. “Each time we connected, it was as if I had worn down a bit more of the bars that held me captive.” After weeks of communication, she decided to meet up with him.
Carey said she felt terrified. “The stakes were incredibly high,” she wrote..