It’s finally official! Mariah Carey confirmed in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday, February 15, that backup dancer Bryan Tanaka is her boyfriend.
The pop diva subtly confirmed the relationship when she was asked about her dating life. “I’m just going to be like, ‘I really don’t talk about my personal life’ because that’s what I used to do and it really worked for a minute, back a while ago,” she responded, laughing. “I just don’t feel comfortable talking about my personal life. Can we just keep that private between us? Me and my boyfriend don’t want to do that.”
Carey and Tanaka’s romance began last year, shortly after she and ex-fiancé James Packer ended their engagement in October. Between dates on the singer’s Sweet Sweet Fantasy tour, Carey and Tanaka, 33, spent plenty of quality time together as their friendship turned flirtatious, as documented on Mariah’s World. The final episode of the E! docuseries, which aired in January, showed the new couple making out on the beach after she officially called it quits with Packer, 49.
On Valentine’s Day, the “Hero” singer shared a steamy photo of herself and her shirtless beau sipping champagne in the hot tub together. “Happy Valentine’s Day!! #happyvalentinesday #happy #moments #bubbles,” she captioned the post on Tuesday, February 14, alongside a kiss face and heart emojis.
Carey’s ex-husband, Nick Cannon, meanwhile, recently revealed that he’s skeptical about the romance and the authenticity of the scenes in Mariah’s World. “First of all, I think the whole reality show is fake,” the TV personality, who shares 5-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with Carey, said on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show on February 8. “I’m a producer, so I know how [it works]. … I don’t buy none of that s–t. … It feels like they wrote the story. That s–t is like a soap opera.”
