The self-proclaimed Queen of Christmas may be a glamorous household name now, but old yearbook photos show just how far Mariah Carey has come: from awkward teenager to superstar singer.
Mariah, 55, attended Oldfield Junior High School before attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987.
The singer, who is now known for her diva-like ways and impressive flutes, revisited her high school in 1999 to film a television special called Homecoming.
In a photo of Mariah from 1982, when she was in seventh grade, the singer is wearing a cable-knit sweater and her hair is curled just below her shoulders.
One adorable photo shows the teen in a classroom kneeling on the floor, her hair down and down and wearing a light-colored puffer jacket.
The singing superstar discovered a significantly different and more grown-up look the following year, in 1983, with her hair down and a trendy hairstyle around her face.
The teenager smiled sweetly at the camera as she posed for her last high school photo, somewhat shyly.
Snaps of the Touch My Body singer as she entered high school show an elegant Mariah posing for school photos surrounded by her classmates, flashing her trademark million-dollar smile.
Mariah, 55, attended Oldfield Junior High School before attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987. She is pictured here in seventh grade in 1982.
Mariah photographed with classmates in 1982
By her senior year of high school, Mariah had begun to look like the spectacular Mariah the world knows now.
A more confident-looking Mariah smiles at the camera, an ’80s perm framing her face.
She is also seen wearing a collared shirt and a chain necklace.
Mariah grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, New York, and spoke about her tumultuous upbringing in her memoir, The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, published in 2020.
In the memoir, she detailed the horrific abuse she faced at the hands of her family members and girls at school.
Mariah, who is the mixed-race daughter of a black father and white mother, has said she felt terribly isolated as a child and grew up in a poor home where racial tensions boiled.
According to the memoir, her older brothers deeply resented Mariah for her lighter skin and “blonde” hair, which spared her much (though not all) of the racism they endured while growing up in the suburbs of Long Island, New York. .
The singing superstar saw a significantly different and more grown-up appearance the following year, in 1983, with her hair loose and fashionably styled around her face.
By Mariah’s senior year of high school, she had begun to look like the spectacular Mariah the world knows now.
Mariah photographed in a class photo in 1984.
An elegant Mariah flashes a shy smile in a class photo taken in 1985.
Mariah’s sister, Alison, is eight years older than her, and during her childhood she bore the brunt of some Americans’ antipathy toward mixed-race families (Carey’s Irish-American mother was estranged from her own family because they were dismayed when she married a black man).
Mariah recalled racist neighbors allegedly throwing raw meat “covered in broken glass” to their dogs and claimed someone even blew up the family’s car.
The singer also detailed what she believed was her sister Alison trying to sell her into prostitution.
She said her sister recruited girls for her pimp friend, John, and, fueling her suspicions that he intended to add her own sister to the list, he secretly provided Mariah with her own phone line so he could call her without her mother knowing.
One day, Mariah wrote that Alison left her alone with John, who tried to force himself on her while they were sitting in his car. She was saved by a suspicious old man who looked carefully inside the car.
She recalled being occasionally spat on on the school bus and getting into fights for being mixed-race. In high school, she made sure to date the toughest guy for her own protection.
Life has continued to be busy for Mariah, who scored her first number one hits just three years after graduating high school.
His Christmas song All I Want for Christmas is You celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.