Mariah Carey has cemented herself over the past few years as one of the reigning stars of the holiday season, thanks to her perennially popular All I Want For Christmas is You.
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The singer appeared recently on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss her triumph, but wanted to set the record straight on a popular notion.
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When referred to by the host as "the Queen of Christmas," she immediately said: "First of all, may I say, I never called myself 'the Queen of Christmas'."
She defended her stance by saying that she'd been tagged as the "self-proclaimed Queen" and stated that it wasn't the case. "Really? Like I'm going to do that?"
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"Not to get super religious," she added, to the studio audience's amusement. "But I think, if anyone could be the 'Queen' of Christmas, that would be Mary.
"Christmas is for all, and I just happen to actually really love Christmas," Mariah said, diving more into her poignant reasoning for why she loved the holiday so.
Mariah discussed where her love for Christmas comes from
"Because I grew up and had a really tough childhood and I always wanted Christmas to be perfect, and it never was.
"So then when I was able to finally provide [for] myself and my friends, and now my kids who are 11, we have the most festive Christmas ever," she explained.
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"People are like 'How do you write these Christmas songs, how do you do it?' Because it's actually authentic and it came from a place of longing to have some normalcy and some peace, and just a lovely holiday."
Describing more of her upbringing, Mariah said: "And somehow, someone would be throwing mustard at somebody else, or ketchup or whatever.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe singer struggled to make ends meet before her big break in 1990
"I went through that, and now I wait for it all year long," she concluded, receiving a wave of applause from the audience and support from the host as well.
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