Boy, bye. Mariah Carey had the best love life advice for other newly single fans in the wake of her split from Australian billionaire James Packer.
“I think before you can really move on, you just have to really be able to let go of the anger, and then you focus on yourself and do you, and then look to someone else for whatever you’re looking for,” the singer told Refinery29 in a new interview published on Wednesday, February 8. “But you just have to focus on you and just know that you didn’t do anything wrong. And if you did do something wrong, blame it on the other person!”
Carey and Packer, 49, called off their engagement last October following a blowout fight in Greece. The pair have since severed ties, and based on the pop icon’s latest music video for “I Don’t,” in which she throws a wedding dress into a bonfire, they’re not looking to reconcile anytime soon.
“OK, so a lot of people have been reporting this, but in the video, this dress is a wedding dress, but it’s not a wedding dress — as in, not one that I had an intention of getting married in!” the Mariah’s World star clarified. “But anyway, it seemed like it came full circle because in the [2005] ‘We Belong Together’ video, I run away in a wedding dress. I tend to do that a lot, in real life and in videos. [Laughs].”
A source told Us at the time that Carey was “blindsided” by Packer. “She read the news in Woman’s Day Australia that said he dumped her,” the insider said. “Mariah knew they were having problems, but all relationships have issues — it wasn’t the kind of thing where she thought she’d read in the paper that she got dumped. … She was devastated; she was shocked.”
Not that the pop diva has been wallowing in her misery. Carey was spotted frolicking in the ocean with new boyfriend — and backup dancer — Bryan Tanaka shortly after news of her split made headlines. On a recent episode of Mariah’s World, the ‘90s icon even surprised Tanaka, 33, with a sexy lap dance during a performance of her 2008 hit “Touch My Body.”
Asked whether she considers this moment in her career yet another “reinvention,” Carey demurred. “Hmm, I guess it is a new phase in my life. I mean I don’t really like to say that, because it sounds so dramatic. You know, it’s really the same life that I’ve been having!” she told Refinery29. “It’s just that I decided to write a song about where I’m at, and it’s been great to be able to make a video and do all that stuff again, because that’s what I love. I’ve been doing the live performing for the past few years, and that’s fun, and I love seeing all the fans all over the world, but I really love making music in the studio. So yes, it’s a new day, it’s a new moment.”
