Inside Mariah Carey’s Luxurious Real Estate Portfolio

Unsurprisingly, Mariah Carey’s penchant for glitter and glam extends to the many homes that she’s lived in over the years. The singer didn’t always enjoy such a lavish lifestyle, however. Born in Huntington, New York, the pop superstar grew up living with her mother and two older siblings in a small apartment after her parents got divorced. Her love for singing stemmed from a desire to escape this troubled childhood. Over the years, her passion bloomed into a career, which led to an entire lifestyle and persona that has cemented Carey as a musical and pop culture legend. 

“She exudes glamor—and sex appeal too,” interior designer Mario Buatta told Architectural Digest during a 2001 tour of her NYC triplex. “She has incredible charisma. Mariah loves luxury.” Here, we’ve rounded up some of Carey’s most sumptuous properties, including one with a violin-shaped pool.

1993

Several years after the Long Island native moved to New York City in pursuit of a music career, she already had a record deal, a husband, and a house—all in quick succession. She met Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola in 1988, released her self-titled debut album in 1990, and married Mottola in 1993. The pair paid $2 million for 51 acres in Westchester County, where they designed and built a sprawling 22,000-square-foot mansion.

Situated approximately 40 miles north of the city, the redbrick Georgian home boasted nine bedrooms, seven fireplaces, a recording studio, a ballroom, a pistol range, and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Noise from the construction of a 2.5-million-gallon artificial pond caused some kerfuffle with the neighbors, but ultimately completed the estate’s over-the-top aesthetic. When the couple separated in 1997, they put the property up on the market and eventually sold it to executive Nelson Peltz for $20.5 million. At the time it was the most expensive sale in Westchester County. Tragedy struck just one year later, however, when a fire completely destroyed the property.

1999

Carey moved back into the city following her divorce from Mottola, snapping up a $5.5 million Tribeca penthouse and the $3.5 million apartment below to create her own 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 an entire 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.” Carey still owns this property.

2007

Looking to expand her real estate portfolio outside the states, Carey next picked up an estate in the Bahamas for a reported $5 million; 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. 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.

2009

Between their wedding and welcoming twins Moroccan and Monroe, 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 and 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. After the pair called it quits in 2014, they listed the home and sold it for exactly $9 million the following spring.

2016

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, paying a reported $250,000 a month for the luxury pad. 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.

2018

Carey’s next move was a bit of a surprising one. The Grammy winner leased a Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills for $35,000 a month which had previously been occupied by 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; 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.

2020

During the pandemic, Carey made her way back to the east coast, 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 aquarium. Perhaps most noteworthy, however, was the property’s 90-foot violin-shaped swimming pool, which reportedly cost $1 million 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.

2021

After several years of renting, the singer purchased a mansion in Atlanta’s Sandy Springs area for $5.65 million. The redbrick colonial-style estate was originally built in 1951, and boasted nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and five half baths spread across 12,575 square feet. Carey made sure to add some personal touches to the property before even moving in, including the addition of a private recording studio on the third floor, a pink dressing room with a pink vanity, a glittery pink chandelier in the foyer, and even a giant tufted velvet headboard in the primary bedroom. (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who rented the home previously, likely would have had a different aesthetic; he was probably drawn to the pad’s state-of-the-art gym.)

Ultimately, however, Carey and the property weren’t quite meant to be. Following a burglary in late June 2022, Carey put the home on the market for $6.5 million just nine months after purchasing it.