“Her Eyes Were Going to Pop Out…” – Derek Jeter Once Dropped a Bombshell Revealing Secret Engagement to Global Icon Mariah Carey

Some pop culture moments are unforgettable. From entertainment to sports, some instances become so embedded in people’s memories that they’re brought up every now and then. One such occurrence was when the ‘Queen of Christmas’ Mariah Carey dated then New York Yankees rising star Derek Jeter. The late 1990s was when both of them were climbing through the ranks in their fields. Already popular with the masses, when news of the two of them together broke out, the media went into a frenzy.

The couple reportedly only dated for a few months but that didn’t save them from speculation. From wedding bells to breakups, all kinds of rumors abounded. But Jeter gave some clarity on whether or not the couple had tied the knot a few years later.

Rumors about Derek Jeter and Mariah Carey even left his mother in shock

A significant amount of news about celebrities generally becomes known through tabloids. But the behind-the-scenes scenario is presumably clearer to people close to them. For Jeter, it was his family. In his book, The Life You Imagine, he even opened up about how media gossip on his engagement left his mother surprised.

Published in 2000, the book talked about all things Derek Jeter. Despite his reluctance to talk about his personal life in the media, the book provided some clarity. “We actually only dated for about six months and we were never close to getting engaged, though that’s what a few newspapers wrote,” he writes on page 157.

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“A reporter asked my mother if those stories about me supposedly preparing to get engaged to Mariah were true and my mother looked like her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. Don’t you think my parents would have known that if it were close to being true?” While Jeter was famous, or infamous, for his tight-lipped reputation, Carey once took a page out of his book too.

Mariah Carey tried her best to dispel dating rumors

There were many reasons why the Jeter-Carey relationship became famous. One major point of speculation was that the Songbird Supreme was still married to her previous husband. But in her own book, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, she gave a more detailed account of how that marriage hurt her.

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But being with Jeter was different, so naturally, she would want to protect it from media scrutiny. The former shortstop was never one to talk about anything other than baseball anyway. So during that brief time, Carey took inspiration from her beau and kept mum about the relationship.