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Mariah Carey Says She ‘Never Claimed’ To Write ‘All I Want For Christmas’ Alone

“Mariah has never claimed to write ‘All I Want for Christmas’ by herself or as a child,” her rep said.

Mariah Carey is hitting back at criticism from her former co-writer Walter Afanasieff, who scoffed at the pop star for supposedly saying she wrote her iconic holiday ballad “All I Want For Christmas” by herself when she was a child. The singer’s representatives told The New York Post, “Mariah has never claimed to write ‘All I Want for Christmas’ by herself or as a child. She has always credited Walter, as he is cited as a writer on the song, so that would be ridiculous. Not sure where that rumor came from, but Mariah is very respectful of writers and the craft, as she is a songwriter herself.” On an episode of the Hot Takes & Deep Dives podcast, Afanasieff claimed that Carey’s story about how she came up with “All I Want For Christmas” changed over the years, despite having created the song together in the 1990s. “She started to hint at the fact that, ‘Oh, I wrote that song when I was a little girl.’ But why weren’t you saying that for 12 or 13 or 15 years prior to that? So it just sort of developed in her mind,” he said.