Mariah Carey says her tough upbringing was a "handicap".

The singer claims she struggled to become a singer because she was raised in a poor one-parent family.

Mariah revealed in an interview with Britain's Hello magazine: "I feel like I came from a handicapped place. To have grown up in a single parent home, to be bi-racial, to not have any money, to have to fight to succeed. "No-one but my mom believed in me. First, you have to have faith and then you have to act. And that is what I have always done."

The 36-year-old star, who is one of the most successful female solo artists in the world, says her difficult upbringing made her even more determined to succeed.

She explained: "I suppose that to succeed, first you have to have lost something, which shows you how to be thankful for everything - for the good moments and the bad. That's what I have learned."

Taken from M&C