Mariah Carey

Grammy award winning R&B singer Mariah Carey talks about her ex-husband Tommy Mottola in an interview with the Interview magazine for their September issue. Mariah says she is ‘thankful’ to Mottola even though she felt like the powerhouse music executive was too controlling while they were married. "I am thankful to [Mottola] in a lot of ways. I try not to vilify him. I have to forgive him for being so restrictive. I understand him not wanting me to go out and hang out all night, but going to a spa with friends every now and then, or doing things on my own would have made a world of difference. And I'd probably still be with him if I had. Maybe it's for my own good that I wasn't 'allowed' to do those things, but that's not how it felt. It felt like suddenly I had a strict father. ... With Tommy it felt like I had this controlling situation where I wasn't allowed to be myself. This conversation that we're having now would never have taken place." Carey also opened up about the catastrophic Glitter collapse that preceded her surprise rebound. "I consider 'the breakdown' a breakthrough — I needed to hit rock bottom, however it happened. I needed to understand the cost of pushing so hard, fighting so hard against the system." Carey is currently in the studio working on her next studio album. She is also featured with Bow Wow on the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony single "Lil' L.O.V.E." Carey recently received a "recording star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 21, 2007. Interview hits newsstand this Tuesday