After once admitting that having children would leave her feeling “violated,” Mariah Carey and husband Nick Cannon couldn't help but gush about their “absolutely emotional” baby news when they announced it on American TV, telling viewers: “The greatest gift on earth is a child.” It ends months of speculation as the superstar — who is expecting in the spring — adds yet another string to her vast bow as one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, actress, devoted wife and now mum-to-be.
The pregnancy was revealed alongside the news that Mariah had suffered a previous miscarriage. Shortly after their whirlwind wedding in 2008, covered exclusively by OK! magazine, Mariah and her actor husband were in Monte Carlo for the World Music Awards when Mariah found out she was pregnant: “Only one person knew about this and we were like: ‘Let's not tell anybody else.’ ” A little more than a month later, she lost the baby. “It was really sad so we had to absorb this and take it in,” Mariah, 40, said.
A glowing Mariah revealed she won't be finding out if it's a boy or a girl: “I'd prefer not because imagine if you're a baby inside someone's body — Do you really want someone imposing their sex ideas on you? Not really.” She also revealed she's been feeling ill: “I get a little nauseous. It's like a constant ugh.”
Having told the world they decided names for their future children on their first date, Nick, 30, has since divulged some unusual ideas while adding fuel to the Mariah diva fire. “We're going to name all our kids Mariah no matter if they're boys or girls. Mariah Number One, Boy Mariah, Man Mariah, Tall Mariah. It's going to be a house full of people named Mariah.”
Here, in her own words, Mariah opens up about shunning nannies, putting on baby weight and taking tips from fellow star warbles Céline Dion…
I've changed my mind about becoming a mother because I'm with The One…
I think we would make good parents, and that we'd be able to figure out how to do it properly.
Of course we'd be happy with one. I want to be able to manage the right amount of attention…
We're so busy — if you have six kids running around, no one gets what they need. What I want is to have children in a good way, with the right husband, with the right family life.
I'm going to be hands-on…
I wouldn't be like: “Oh, I'm having a child, yay! Let me get a nanny so I can give her the baby. Take the kid.” That doesn't work for me. I don't believe in that
Céline was talking about acupuncture…
I used to get acupuncture, but I never thought about it with regards to trying to conceive. I put my body through a whole kind of cleansing situation and prepared. For the first time in my life, I spent time in one place.
I did end up being on progesterone [steroid hormone] every month to go through the cycles — especially after going through operations…
It helps seal the pregnancy, but it also bloats you, it also puts on weight. Then everybody's like: “The weight gain? She's definitely pregnant.” And I'm like: “Well, at some point I was.”
The miscarriage kind of shook us both and took us into a place that was really dark and difficult…
When that happened and I wasn't able to even talk to anybody about it, that was not okay. I've never really been a very forthcoming person about my personal stuff. Why do I have to talk about this in front of the world? It's a little strange.
You can get caught in Hollywood-land and that's maybe not the best thing for kids, because they didn't ask for it…
I don't know that I always felt safe and secure as a child and that's nobody's fault. We're not mudslinging or trying to slay anybody but truly I feel like it's very important to be responsible and to think, well maybe if I do this it's not the best thing for my child. You have to take a backseat a little bit, and as someone in the public eye you're not used to doing that.
I wouldn't mind gaining baby weight. I'd be fine with it.
I'm not one of those people who is usually a size 2 [UK size 6] to start with and gets scared they will end up a size 3.
It's definitely the best place I've ever been in my life.
If you really look at me life, I've never had a personal life, or if I did, it was just wearing a mask and it was not existing, you know? I put my career ahead of my personal life because I didn't know that I was deserving of both, because that was just how I always felt about myself. That was just my own insecurity and land in which I live.