MARIAH CAREY - CAREY: 'I'M AN ICON FOR OUTCASTS'

CAREY: 'I'M AN ICON FOR OUTCASTS'

MARIAH CAREY is glad she suffered hardships in her youth - because her turbulent childhood has made her an icon for social outcasts. The Heartbreaker diva claims her mixed-race heritage meant she wasn't accepted by her peers as white or black - but hopes her meteoric rise to fame will allow bi-racial fans to see their own potential. She tells U.S. magazine Parade, "I felt very much like an outcast when I was younger. No matter where I went, there was always this sense of not really falling into place or into one category. "I moved around a lot when I was growing up, so nobody knew me and I was never one thing or the other. Being biracial, I didn't really have somebody to look at and say, 'Okay, this person is exactly the same as me, and they're out there.'" And the singing sensation claims she will never grow up - so as to never forget the struggles she went through to become successful. "A lot of kids have said that to me, 'Until you put your first record out, I didn't feel like there was anybody that was the same as me.' People who don't feel like they fit in can identify with me. I promised myself when I was a little girl that I would never forget what it felt like to be a kid. I never wanted to grow up and be out of touch with what that feels like."