Umukunde Pierrine
Mariah Carey, 54 and Bryan Tanaka, 40 are rumored to have called it quits on their relationship after seven years of being together. The said speculations are fueled by the fact that this is the first time the pair have not traveled together during the Christmas season in years. The Fantasy hit maker kicked off her Merry Christmas one and All tour in November which the dancer has been absent from as well. The superstar is currently celebrating the Holidays in Aspen without Tanaka who in the past usually accompanied her according to a source who spoke with People.
The couple in question have been last seen together in March this year while they celebrated the singer’s birthday where Bryan posted a photo on Instagram of him and Mariah with the caption, “This is one of my favorite pictures. Ever. Happy anniversary my beautiful queen. 3/27.” As for Mariah’s page, the dancer last appeared on it in December 2022 when the two beaming lovebirds posed cheek to cheek to mark Boxing Day.
The breakup rumors started in November after her concert at the Yaamava’ Resort and Casino in Highland, California when Bryan who regularly shows off his dance moves at her shows was nowhere to be seen at that one. Others noticed that the singer looked downbeat and some fans complained about her low-energy performance. So far, neither Mariah Carey nor Bryan Tanaka have publicly addressed the split allegations.
Once Mariah Carey and ex-fiancé James Packer called it quits, Tanaka danced his way into her heart in 2016 and they both embarked on a romantic journey, sparking a whirlwind romance on tour, spending holidays together and traveling the world always together. The two initially split briefly after being together for five months of dating but they later reconciled.
Here is a brief timeline of their relationship since they met.
In 2006 Tanaka and Mariah were linked professionally when Tanaka took stage with Carey as a backup dancer on her 2006 adventures of Mimi tour. “Something connected with us back in the day and there was just a mutual admiration. She saw something in me that I actually did not recognize at first, from that it was over.” Tanaka said of Carey and their early days of working together while talking to E! News before adding, “It was set in history that we were going to be connected some way, somehow.” He again expressed his gratitude towards the singer on Instagram in 2014 saying, “She has always supported me and been so kind.”
In 2016 it was alleged that Mariah’s fiancé, Packer was jealous of the closeness between Mariah and Tanaka before the two walked in different directions. According to the then reports, the Australian Billionaire fiancé even confronted Tanaka after he showed up to Carey’s Las Vegas show despite not being able to perform due to an injury which prompted Parker to ban the dancer from the Caesars Palace show during the incident. In 2016 October shortly after the singer broke up with Parker, she gathered a group of friends for a night out in Malibu to help her go through it, and Tanaka was in that group of friends. In November of that year, Tanaka and Carey spent thanksgiving weekend together which sparked relationship rumors between the two especially because of the photo the two posed for which showed them engaging in some intense beach PDA. Later that year in December the two held hands on stage in Ney York City. The relationship speculations of course on fire at this moment and fans had been paying extra-close attention to the dancer and Carey’s onstage interactions but what caught their attention most was the fact that Tanaka was chosen to hold hands with the singer as she belted her classis “All I want for Christmas is you” at the VH1 Divas: Unsilent night show in December. A few days later, the two did the same thing in New York City’s Beacon Theater.
Still in December of 2016, the ‘We belong together’ singer and Bryan Tanaka’s relationship blossomed on Mariah’s World, her reality show, where fans had an unprecedented look at how their relationship developed. In a promo for the series that Tanaka shared on Instagram, an off-screen voice over noted that read, “He has always had a huge crush on her,” as clips of Carey canoodling with the dancer played on screen.
Tanaka and Carey continued to be seen on different occasions in public, this time in January 2017 where the two were on a dinner date in London. The following month, the two lovebirds celebrated Valentine’s Day together where the two cuddled up in a bath tub as shared by the dancer on Instagram. Mariah Carey in the same month, gave subtle hints that Tanaka is her boyfriend in an interview where he said, “I just do not feel comfortable talking about my personal life. Me and my boyfriend don’t want to do that.” Later that month, the two went Instagram official with a kiss which Mariah Carey posted with the caption, “No one knows what it means, but it is provocative. It gets the people going.”
In March 2017 the two were spotted wearing matching outfits in Los Angeles on a dinner date. “Both were in a great mood, smiling, giggling, and taking photos of the dishes.” Said a source about the couple. That month, Mariah Carey celebrated her 47th birthday with Bryan Tanaka. The following month, the two broke up with a source saying that their relationship was just a rebound from her broken engagement from Parker. “Bryan was a good distraction after she split from James. This is a good time for her to be single and focus on herself.” The insider said, but the two reconciled later in May when they were seen at dinner in Beverly Hills cozy and kissing.
From then on, the two kept going strong, spotted on different dates and spent all of the holidays together until now when it is alleged that the two have separated after these seven years of being together.
Makana Kennedy
