Mariah Carey: 'I'm more successful since firing my old team'

Mariah Carey fired a group of her longtime staffmembers last month (Mar16) because they no longer had her "best interests" at heart.

The pop superstar hit headlines in March (16) after reports suggested a number of her representatives had all walked out on the singer. Among those parting ways with the Hero hitmaker were business manager Michael Kane, publicists Connie Filippello and Chris Chambers, and stylist Wilfredo Rosado, who helped Mariah's billionaire fiance James Packer design her 35-carat diamond engagement ring.

The news emerged amid speculation of a rift between the former staff and her self-proclaimed 'Russian dictator' manager, Stella Bulochnikov, who was recruited a year ago (Apr15) to oversee her career.

"It seems as if Mariah has allowed a complete stranger, her new manager, to run her life, and others believe this woman is toxic," a source told the New York Post's Page Six at the time. "Seasoned executives in their profession don't want to put up with her. Stella is hard to work with. Mariah doesn't understand what's going on because Stella paints a different picture, so Mariah probably thinks it's petty disagreements. These are not just random people who have left her. These are loyal people who have been around for years, some 20."

However, Mariah has now set the record straight for herself, insisting she was the one who let the members of her team go.

"I dismissed a majority of my team because I discovered that they didn't have my best interests at heart," she explained to TMZ.com.

The singer, who is currently on tour in Europe, went on to declare she has full faith in Stella's expertise and she couldn't be happier with her continued success.

She continued, "My new team, including manager Stella Bulochnikov, are the top of the line in the entertainment business, and more importantly, in my life and I am now much more financially successful and more organized than in the past."

Her booming career includes her ongoing Las Vegas residency, which she resumes in May (16), and a new reality show for America's E! network, which she is currently filming while on the road.

And the 46-year-old reveals fans will get a glimpse at her new romance on the forthcoming TV series.

"My fiance James Packer just came to visit me in Denmark," she gushed. "And he had no problem being on camera for the show with me... and we had a great time."

The couple announced its engagement in January (16) after less than a year of dating. Mariah and her Australian love are reportedly set to tie the knot in a lavish ceremony on the island of Barbuda in front of 50 friends and family members later this year (16).

The marriage will be Mariah's third and James' second. She was previously wed to music executive Tommy Mottola and actor/entrepreneur Nick Cannon, the father of her four-year-old twins, while James moved to divorce model and singer Erica Baxter, with whom he shares three young children, in 2013.