It’s surprising that Mariah Carey is hailed as the Queen of Christmas but not crowned the Queen of Diamonds. The 56-year-old pop star, in true Carey charm, dazzled at the 2025 MTV VMAs as she accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and performed a medley of her greatest hits. Yet it wasn’t her legendary vocals or career-defining accolades that held everyone’s gaze, it was the glittering display of diamonds she chose for the night. At the heart of her look was a breathtaking 204-carat diamond necklace that stole the spotlight, followed by an equally striking pair of earrings. Designed by Levuma, the set was valued at a staggering $10 million, making it more expensive than the necklace Queen Elizabeth II wore at her coronation, more dazzling than Marie Antoinette’s famed piece, and eclipsing the Greville Festoon Necklace, crafted by Cartier and once belonging to the British royal family, valued at about $8.2 million.
The Grammy winner stunned in an eye-catching gold long-sleeve romper shimmering with rhinestones, but even that couldn’t compete with the brilliance of LEVUMA’s Rosée Éternelle diamond chandelier earrings, her show-stopping necklace, and a sparkling Etho Maria bracelet. The necklace alone, meticulously handcrafted in Antwerp over 600 hours, carried 204 carats of unmatched brilliance. Adding to the sparkle, the Etho Maria bracelet, styled by Wilfredo Rosado, featured 72.15 carats of diamonds, paired with a 37.62-carat bracelet and ring by Hamilton Jewelers, according to People.
That’s a lot of bling, but the singer who gave the world All I Want for Christmas Is You clearly wants as many diamonds as she can. It was, after all, her first VMA win, 36 years after her debut at the awards. The moment called for fireworks, but the true sparkle was in the diamonds she wore. Her love for diamonds isn’t born of superstardom (she holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles by a solo artist, 19) but from a seed planted in childhood. Mariah has often said her fascination with diamonds began as early as age six. Let’s delve deeper into this glittering love affair.
Mariah, Monroe, and an eternal romance with diamonds-
Mariah Carey’s diamond fascination began at age six, long before the world knew her name. The New York-born star, who famously doesn’t acknowledge birthdays or traditional aging, first fell in love with diamonds while watching another icon, Marilyn Monroe. Monroe’s performance of Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend was a defining moment for young Mariah, who grew up in financially difficult circumstances.
“I watched it and it really had an impact on me because they were also talking about how difficult a childhood she had. And yet, there I was having a difficult childhood myself, watching this show about a person who became a major figure for the entire world singing about diamonds and being fabulous. So that was a very aspirational kind of moment,” Carey once shared. She even bought Marilyn Monroe’s white baby grand piano for $662,500 at Christie’s in 1999.
Despite her meteoric rise after her 1990 self-titled debut, becoming the only artist to send her first five singles straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Carey resisted splurging on jewelry in her early years. It wasn’t until a chance encounter with actress Elizabeth Taylor, at an Oscar party, known for dripping in diamonds, that the singer was encouraged to indulge. “Darling, I think you should buy yourself more diamonds. What are you doing?” Hollywood’s most famous diamond lover told her. That moment ignited Carey’s lifelong love affair with diamonds, a sparkle that has never dimmed.
By 2022, the admirer of diamonds became a designer. She launched two Chopard collections, High Jewelry and Happy Butterfly, to mark the 25th anniversary of Butterfly. The 1997 album became Mariah’s signature era and cemented the butterfly as her personal emblem. The once wide-eyed girl entranced by Marilyn Monroe’s sparkle, or simply the idea of diamonds, is now a self-described collector who values sentimental pieces and plans to pass them to her daughter, Monroe.
