Merry Xmas, Love Mariah... and Mom

Pop star Mariah Carey chatted with columnist Liz Smith and revealed her plans to record a new holiday song... with her opera-singer mother. The singer also strongly implied that the end of her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola left her "free" to grow as an artist.

"Once I broke free, I allowed myself to be who I was, who I wanted to be, as a woman and as an artist," Carey told Smith, according to WowOWow. "This kind of album, with the great collaborations I have with Tricky Stewart and the Dream, never could have been possible as my old self."

Carey, 39, married legendary Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola in 1993. Although he propelled her to widespread commercial success, the relationship appeared controlling. The couple split in 1997.

However, Carey credited Mottola for her enduring holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You." She told Smith that she plans to record another Christmas song, this one with her mother, a former opera singer.

"I'm going to sing in my style, and she is going to sing operatic, which is her style," Carey said.