Rumors of a brewing relationship between singing superstar Mariah Carey and her half-Japanese backup dancer Bryan Tanaka have been making headlines over the past months.
With many photos emerging online showing they are enjoying each other’s company, it may be safe to say that things are indeed getting serious between the two.
In fact, right after Carey’s disastrous New Year’s Eve performance, it was Bryan Tanaka who reportedly gave comfort to the strained singer, reported the Daily Mail.
Of course, the 33-year-old dancer’s romantic involvement with Carey began way back as he was even rumored to be the cause of Carey’s break-up with former fiance and Australian billionaire James Packer. According to IBTimes, Packer had long been jealous of Tanaka and allegedly even tried to get him banned from Carey’s Las Vegas home.
Tanaka and Carey have long known each other, with the dancer being part of the singer’s backup dance crew for over 10 years now.
The dancer, who describes himself as a “Half-Asian, Hawaiian White boy,” was born of an American mother and a Japanese father.
He began his professional career in dancing at eighteen and early on was able to work with huge names in the music industry including Rihanna, Nelly Furtado and notably shared the stage with Beyoncé on numerous occasions.
When he eventually became in charge of doing choreography for Carey’s dance routines, the two formed a special friendship due to common interests.
Both of them share a love for animals, with Tanaka owning a pit bull named Mila while Carey has eight pampered dogs.
In December, Tanaka expressed his feelings via an interview with E! News at the premiere of the 46-year-old celebrity’s new docuseries “Mariah’s World.”
“I love her so much,” Tanaka was quoted as saying.
“Something connected with us back in the day and there was just a mutual admiration,” he explained. “She saw something in me that I actually didn’t recognize at first, from that it was over. It was set in history that we were gonna be connected someway, somehow.”
