Mariah Carey reveals years-long battle with bipolar disorder: ‘I lived in denial and isolation’

Mariah Carey says she has been battling bipolar disorder, explaining that after years of suffering in silence, “I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.” In People magazine’s April 23 issue, the 48-year-old singer-songwriter described how the mental health condition has affected her and her attempts to cope.

“For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder,” she said. “But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad — even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”

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