Carey moved back into the city following her divorce from Mottola. In 1999, she snapped up a $5.5 million Tribeca penthouse and the $3.5 million apartment below it to create an impressive triplex. The singer worked with interior decorator Mario Buatta to transform the space into her own personal sanctuary, complete with a Turkish-style banquette large enough to host a dinner party; a movie theater that doubles as an aquarium; a 38-foot-long primary bathroom with adjoining clothes and shoe rooms; a flowery chaise lounge in the kitchen; and butterfly decor galore. “We put them wherever we could,” Buatta told AD. “There are butterfly handles on the cabinets in the bedroom, and butterflies are woven into the bed hangings. They’re even on the soap in the bath and on the tiles in the kitchen. There are so many butterflies in this apartment, you don’t even notice them. But Mariah does.” The designer also worked to infuse other aspects of the triplex with luxury, including silver-colored doors and lacquered peach walls. Marilyn Monroe’s white baby grand piano occupies a prime spot in the main living area. Carey still owns this property, and it was featured on a memorable 2002 episode of MTV Cribs.
Bahamas beachfront compound
Looking to expand her real estate portfolio outside the states, Carey next picked up an estate in the Bahamas for a reported $5 million in 2007; the secluded beachfront compound on Windermere Island is known as Villa Sea Lily. The singer and her then beau Nick Cannon got married at the property in April 2008 during a seaside, sunset ceremony that surprised everyone. “We only told people who had to know,” Carey told People at the time. “[To everyone else] we said we were [going to the Bahamas] for the video. If we brought a million people with us, it would’ve been obvious we weren’t shooting a video.” The three-acre compound comprised four pavilions arranged around an interior courtyard, with about 4,000 square feet of interior living space and 3,500 square feet of covered terraces and marble walkways. Carey and Cannon returned to the Caribbean estate to renew their vows one year later, and reportedly lived there part-time throughout their marriage. The couple listed the estate for $5.5 million in 2011; it is unclear whether or not it ever sold. As of March 2015, it was still up for sale.
Bel-Air Colonial-style mansion
In 2009, Carey and Cannon purchased a $6.9-million Colonial-style mansion in Bel-Air nicknamed Fleur de Lys. The 11,750-square-foot home was previously owned by ’80s star Farrah Fawcett and boasted all the trappings of a celebrity estate: two gated driveways and motor courts out front with a huge brick terrace and luxurious swimming pool out back. The property featured multiple wings, with a double-height foyer, home theater, game room, recording studio, indoor basketball court, and something called the Aspen Room, a 32-foot-long entertainment lounge with a huge fireplace. The couple lived here when they welcomed their twins, Monroe and Moroccan, in 2011. “The most important thing I can do for my children is give them what I didn’t really have: a chance to live in a safe and secure home surrounded by people who love and support them unconditionally,” she once told Us Weekly. After the pair called it quits in 2014, they listed the home and sold it for exactly $9 million
Calabasas rental
By the summer of 2015, Carey was photographed with a new man, Australian billionaire James Packer. The pair shared a whirlwind romance and got engaged within months of dating. They quickly moved into a Mediterranean-style home in Calabasas in 2016, paying a reported $250,000 a month for the luxury pad. “The couple was not looking at homes for a long time,” a source said at the time. “This is just the perfect place for Mariah and her family—it’s safe, it’s secure, it’s home.” Situated on an acre within coveted gated community The Oaks, the estate measured 18,000 square feet, with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms, as well as a theater, a sauna, and a gym. The stones that made up the house were reportedly imported from Italy. The couple’s time together—and their time at the mansion—was short-lived, however. They announced their separation in October 2016, and Packer paid Carey a multimillion-dollar settlement as an “inconvenience fee” following their split.
Beverly Hills rental
Following her breakup with Packer, Carey found love with a longtime friend: backup dancer Brian Tanaka. To mark this new chapter of her life, the Grammy winner leased a Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills for $35,000 a month in 2018. Interestingly, the residence had a previous tenant of particular significance to Carey: Nicki Minaj, whom Carey famously feuded with while the two were judges on American Idol. The home’s amenities and aesthetic likely outweighed the bad blood, however. It featured a total of eight bedrooms and four full and four half baths in the main residence, as well as an attached apartment for guests or staff. In addition to Carey and Minaj, Frank Sinatra also previously occupied the peach-colored mansion.
Upstate New York home
In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Carey packed her bags and moved from her Tribeca triplex to a much quieter, more spacious retreat, renting a Bedford Corners home for a reported $125,000 per month. The unique 10,500-square-foot home, built in 2006, featured six bedrooms with coffered ceilings, seven bathrooms, four powder rooms, a massive home theater, and a 900-gallon saltwater aquarium. While the interiors of the home were impressive, the grounds were just as enviable, featuring an outdoor kitchen, an outdoor shower, formal gardens, a fire pit, a sports court, and a ball field. Perhaps most noteworthy, however, was the property’s 90-foot violin-shaped swimming pool, which reportedly cost $1 million and 15 months for the homeowner to build, and included nearly half-a-million glass tiles with fiber optic strands that lit up at night, as well as two koi ponds that stood in for the violin’s bow.
