Mariah Carey says her "diva moments" are just part of who she is.
The 48-year-old singer and recent "Mariah's World" star explained in the new issue of Paper that she "inadvertently" channels mom and "true diva" Patricia Hickey.
"I have had diva moments, and then people can't handle it," Carey told the magazine. "I guess it's a little intense, because I come from a true diva: My mother is an opera singer. And that's a real diva, you know -- Juilliard diva."
"So when people hear me say, like, 'Dahling da da da da' and talk that way, it's kind like I'm channeling my mother," she said.
"Not that she says 'dahling' all the time, but like that voice is ... it's like I inadvertently do it, and I don't do it to be disrespectful, I just do it and it just happens and it's like, 'I don't even know why.'"
Carey often makes headlines for her reported "diva moments," including when her ex-husband Nick Cannon told "The Wendy Williams Show" the singer gave birth to their twins with her song "Fantasy" playing in the background.
She shared a more vulnerable side of herself in an interview with Page Six over the weekend.
"I just feel like I am a regular human being and I deserve the same respect as anybody else," Carey said before adding, "I have always had low self-esteem, and people do not recognize that."
"Growing up different, being biracial, having the whole thing where I did not know if I fit in ... That is why music became such a big part of my life, because it helped me overcome those issues," she added. "Sometimes it is hard to let your guard down."
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Carey last released the album Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse in 2014.
She completed her Las Vegas residency show at Caesars Palace in July after more than two years of performances.