Mariah Carey is being slammed by the co-writer of her hit holiday song “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Walter Afanasieff reveals in a new interview that he and Mariah haven’t spoken in close to two decades.
“We had a falling out,” Afanasieff shared with Radio Times. “I would have hoped that in 20 years, she would have knocked on my door — but she hasn’t, so …”
Afanasief says their rift started after Mariah left her husband Tommy Mottola in 1997. Since he had an exclusive contract with the music exec he could no longer work with Mariah, and he notes, “she found that to be a little bit of a slap in the face.”
The songwriter adds that Mariah is someone who “doesn’t like to acknowledge other people,” adding, “it doesn’t matter how many interviews she’s done or when she’s on stage, she’ll never, ever say, ‘Here’s the song that I wrote with Walter.’ She’s made it her modus operandi [not to mention my name]. We wrote the song together; my name is 50 percent, her name is 50 percent. We have equal shares.”
And regardless of the falling out, Afanasieff insists, “I love Mariah Carey,” adding, “She’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go both ways.”