It turns out that an age gap can make a big difference in whether or not a romantic relationship will work long term. For example, that age gap can be a deal breaker if one person wants to start a family and the other one does not.

It has been seven years since Mariah Carey and Bryan Tanaka started dating. There is a 14-year age gap between the pair. Carey is currently 54 years old, and Tanaka is 40. Reportedly, Tanaka wants to start a family, but Carey doesn’t want to have more children. After all, she’s 54, and she already has two children, twins Moroccan and Monroe from her previous marriage to ex-husband Nick Cannon; however, Tanaka doesn’t have any children of his own.

According to a source that spoke to Page Six, “He wants to have a family. That’s not where she is at.”

The first sign that there might be trouble in paradise was when Carey showed up to her annual trip to Aspen, Colorado, without Tanaka. In addition, Tanaka was also missing during Carey’s “Merry Christmas One and All!” tour, which started back in November.

Another source told Page Six that Tanaka “wants to start having his own life.” He has been linked to Carey since 2016 when they first started dating. At that point, they had already known each other for 10 years, when Tanaka first started as a backup dancer for Carey in 2006.

While Carey and Tanaka have not publicly commented on their split yet, Carey did acknowledge that she’s had some tough times recently, although she didn’t share what those tough times were. Back in November, when she spoke to PEOPLE. Carey explained, “I’ve been looking forward to this Christmas for, like, the whole year. Since last year—because last year wasn’t the greatest. I’m thankful for them all, but it wasn’t my most fun version of Christmas ever.”

This Christmas, even without Tanaka by her side, she’s determined to have an amazing Christmas in 2023. She said, “Come hell or high water, this year, this Christmas, we are going to have fun.”

Watch the video to below to learn more about the reported split between Carey and Tanaka.