Mariah Carey: My Battle with Bipolar Disorder (Video)

Mariah Carey has opened up to People Magazine about living with bipolar II disorder. Buzz60’s Keri Lumm reports.

In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, Mariah Carey reveals for the first time her battle with bipolar disorder.

Although she was first diagnosed in 2001 (when she was hospitalized for a physical and mental breakdown), “I didn’t want to believe it,” the superstar singer-songwriter tells PEOPLE editor in chief Jess Cagle.

Carey says she finally sought treatment recently after “the hardest couple of years I’ve been through” — years of professional upheaval, an E! reality show and romantic drama.

“Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me,” she says. “It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love — writing songs and making music.”