London, Feb 28 (IANS) Popstar Mariah Carey says she has been insecure about her looks since the age of 19.

The 40-year-old singer confessed she has been conscious of this for about 21 years now.

'I remember starting out and being at a record company at 19 and having someone tell me, 'This is your good side and this is your bad side. Don't ever let anyone take pictures of you from that side. You look terrible from that side,' and so on. It created this whole complex,' she said.

Carey, whose mother is Irish-American and her father was an African-American of Venezuelan descent, said she has always had the complex because she's mixed-race, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

'I felt very different as a bi-racial person. Growing up where I did, being half-black and half-white was a weird and difficult thing because I didn't quite fit in either place and I moved around a lot,' she said.

'So when I went from that to this world it was like, let's create an inferiority complex before we make this person go on TV and try to have confidence. So it was all about building self-confidence,' she added.