Mariah Carey the cash machine queen

Mariah Carey feels like a "cash machine with a wig on".

The 'Touch My Body' singer - whose marriage to Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola ended in divorce in 1998 - finds it hard to judge who is genuine and who just wants to be part of the Mariah circus.

She said: "You don't know who is here for the glamour, for the gossip factor. You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. Sometimes you feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it."

Mariah, 37, also spoke about making peace with her estranged father Alfred Roy before he lost his battle with cancer in 2002.

The singer, who included a song dedicated to her father 'Sunflowers for Alfred Roy' on her 'Charmbracelet' album, added to Parade magazine: "Before he passed away, he said, 'You were always a star in my eyes.' Which was very meaningful, because to a lot of people, you're really not worth anything unless you're raking in the dough and having number one hits."