( CNN ) -- She was often portrayed as the archetypal dumb blonde , but behind the golden locks and hourglass figure , Marilyn Monroe was an astute businesswoman . Decades later , the 1950s screen siren is providing inspiration for Mariah Carey 's own vast entertainment empire . `` Marilyn Monroe , who I 'm a huge fan of , had the first production company as a female , as a woman , '' Carey told CNN 's Nischelle Turner , ahead of the release of her 14th album later this month . `` She played the dumb blonde role , she played it well , but that was not who she was . '' Gaze across New York 's Times Square today and you 'll find giant billboards of a sun-kissed Carey in netted swimsuit , her album title declaring : `` Me . I am Mariah . '' But Carey had to work her socks off to become the best-selling female artist of the millennium in 2000 . A woman who has sold 200 million albums worldwide , and overtaken Elvis Presley 's record of U.S. number one singles . Less silver spoon in her mouth -- `` more like a plastic spoon , '' says the daughter of an opera singer mother in Long Island , New York . `` I did n't fit in anywhere , and so music was the thing that I had to cling on to , that made me feel special and like I had this secret , '' added the 44-year-old mother-of-two . The idea of one day making it big , however , was laughable to her classmates . `` I remember once in six or seventh grade , they asked : 'What do you want to do when you grow up ? ' '' said Carey , dubbed the `` songbird supreme '' by the Guinness Book of Records for her remarkable vocal range . `` I said I wanted to be a singer , I wanted to be an actress . And they were all like 'haha . ' Because of course at that point I still did n't really have conditioner or know how to comb through textured hair , '' said the musician , whose mother is Irish-American and father is of African-American and Venezuelan descent . The wide-eyed curly-haired girl next door burst onto the music scene in 1990 , with her five-octave vocal range and eponymous album that sold a cool 6 million copies . She has since won five Grammy Awards , been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in film `` The Butler , '' been a judge on `` American Idol , '' and become a mother to twins she affectionately calls `` Dem babies . '' Arriving in Times Square in a figure-hugging black dress recently , signing autographs for her screaming fans , or `` lambily , '' as she calls them , Carey is as glossy and glamorous as an old-school Hollywood starlet . And she did n't get here by accident . Inspire : How Africa 's Oprah inspired a continent . Opinion : How men like Brad Pitt empower women . Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report .
Mariah Carey is back with a 14th album , to be released later this month . Best - selling female artist of the millennium came onto the scene in 2001 . A look back at the curly - haired girl next door who became sassy mother - of - two . Career includes film performances and TV appearances on American Idol .