Promoting her new film, The Butler, Mariah Carey shared personal experiences that have affected the rest of her life and career. The movie, out soon, follows an African-American butler working in the White House as he observes the pivotal moments of racial equality in the 20th century.

The singer recalled a disturbing racist attack in which she was preyed upon for the colour of her skin. Reported by Yahoo! Movies, the starlet shared memories of a dark time in her life when she was targeted as she rode a Long Island school bus. She claims to have been spat upon as a racial insult to her skin colour and heritage.

Mariah Carey
Mariah Shared A Dark Incident From Her Past.

Likening her own revolting attack to that of the Woolworth Lunch Counter Sit-In in 1960s North Carolina where a black man was spat at by a white woman for asking to be served at the 'whites only' counter, Mariah confessed she knew exactly how the assaulted college student felt. "That actually happened to me," Carey said on Monday (5th Aug) at a press conference for The Butler at Waldorf Astoria Hotel alongside Oprah Winfrey and cast members.

"I know people would be in shock and not really want to believe or accept that, but it did[...]That right there, that was almost the deepest thing to me in the movie because I know what she went through - and it happened to be a bus as well. It was a school bus." Shocked, Winfrey asked for clarification: "Where somebody spit on you?" Carey replied, frankly, "Yeah. In the face and in the same way."

Mariah Carey
Mariah Faced A Lot Of Prejudice As A Youngster.

The daughter of a white mother and an African American/Venezuelan father, Mariah often faced racism as a youngster growing up in Long Island for the way she looked. Her mother's family disowned their daughter for marrying Mariah's father - a man of colour - in 1960. The racial tension became too much to bear for her parents who sadly divorced when Carey was just 3.

Mariah Carey
As Horrible As They Were, The Racist Incidents That Wounded The Star Could Have Been The Making Of Her.

Speaking to Oprah Winfrey on the host's own show last year, she and her mother Patricia spoke of how her kindergarten teachers laughed at her and said she was "doing that wrong" when she drew a picture of her father with a brown crayon. The 'Hero' songbird began to channel the anguish she felt as a result of the prejudice surrounding her and she began to write songs and poetry from a young age to express her emotions.

The Butler will be released on 16th August.

Watch The Butler trailer here: