'The best gift from my kids? Just them being them'

Mariah Carey talks to Rylan Clark about the festivities, family and fame

- JEN PHARO

When she wrote her festive hit All I Want For Christmas in 1994 Mariah Carey wasn’t being entirely honest.

The Christmas cracker of a track has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide and includes the lyrics, “I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree,” and, “I won’t even wish for snow.” Now the Queen of Christmas admits she can’t get enough gifts and decorations, and dreams of a white Christmas every year!

“It was the first Christmas song I ever wrote,” admits the 55-year-old diva. “I was thinking of all the things I really did want at Christmas! When I sing, ‘I won’t even wish for snow,’ that’s a lie, I did wish for snow, it’s the most important thing! And that thing where I don’t care about the presents at Christmas? Of course I do! We all love a present! But I guess if there is someone that you love, it means more than all that stuff.”

To celebrate the song’s 30th anniversary, Mariah has filmed a new interview with Rylan Clark for BBC Two called Mariah Meets Rylan.

As the pair settle down to talk all things Christmas, Mariah tells Rylan how her priorities have changed since she wrote the track. The singer – who has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide – now spends Christmas with her 13-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, who truly are the only thing she wants for Christmas.

Asked what the best Christmas gift she’s ever received from her kids is, Mariah replies, “Just them being them. No, it really is true… They’re very, very cool kids.”

With an estimated net worth of £280 million, Mariah enjoys sumptuous Christmases and she admits that Roc and Roe, as her twins known, do get lavished with gifts.

“They are 13, they’ve had some Christmases growing up,” smiles Mariah. “They do their Christmas lists and they are quite lengthy…”