01 September 2020

Mariah Carey talks of feeling ‘extremely uncomfortable’ revealing her pregnancy in a 2008 Ellen DeGeneres interview

Music icon Mariah Carey has said she felt ‘extremely uncomfortable’ in a 2008 interview with Ellen DeGeneres where the host ‘peer pressured’ her to reveal she was pregnant.

Carey was expecting with then husband Nick Cannon but she was not ready to confirm the news publicly. The clip of the interview has once again gone viral in light of allegations of a toxic work environment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

"I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say,' Carey told Vulture.

“And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath.”

In the interview DeGeneres asked Carey if she was expecting, to which she said she ‘didn’t discuss’ those things.

DeGeneres then produced a bottle of champagne and said the pair could toast to her not being pregnant. Carey initially believed the drink was fake but when she realised it was real she said: "I can't believe you did this to me Ellen.

“This is peer pressure. Do you see what Ellen is doing? This is peer pressure.”

When Carey then took a fake sip the host exclaimed ‘you are pregnant’.

“I wasn't ready to tell anyone because I had had a miscarriage. I don't want to throw anyone that's already being thrown under any proverbial bus, but I didn't enjoy that moment," Carey added.

“[There is] an empathy that can be applied to those moments that I would have liked to have been implemented. But what am I supposed to do? It’s like, [sings] ‘What are you going to do?’”

The singer then miscarried not long after her appearance on DeGeneres.

DeGeneres has been hit with toxic workplace allegations recently (Zuma Press/PA Images)

Carey and Cannon, who were married for eight years, divorced in 2016, five years after the birth of twins Moroccan and Monroe.

Carey’s comments come as WarnerMedia conducts an internal investigation into the allegations surrounding DeGeneres’ show, which has already seen three executive producers fired.

DeGeneres herself has apologised to her staff and is reportedly giving them more benefits such as paid days off and improved medical leave.

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