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Mariah Carey says Ellen DeGeneres pregnancy interview left her ‘extremely uncomfortable’

Mariah Carey and Ellen DeGeneres 'toast to not being pregnant' during a 2008 interview: Warner Bros Television
Mariah Carey and Ellen DeGeneres 'toast to not being pregnant' during a 2008 interview: Warner Bros Television

Mariah Carey has said she was made to feel “extremely uncomfortable” during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, in which the pop star was pushed into revealing a pregnancy that she later miscarried.

Carey appeared on DeGeneres’ US talk show in 2008, when DeGeneres asked the star to either confirm or deny tabloid rumours that she was expecting a baby with then-husband Nick Cannon.

Despite Carey’s protests that she wanted to change the subject, DeGeneres offered Carey a glass of champagne to “toast not being pregnant”.

When DeGeneres spotted that Carey had faked sipping champagne from her glass, she shouted “You are pregnant!”

In 2010, Carey revealed that she was indeed pregnant at the time, but miscarried soon after the DeGeneres interview took place.

“I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say,” Carey recalls in a new interview with Vulture. “And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath.”

She continued: “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 went on to say that she had wished that “empathy” had “been implemented” in the moment, adding: “But what am I supposed to do? It’s like, ‘What are you going to do?’”

The Independent has contacted DeGeneres’s representative for comment.

Mariah Carey and Ellen DeGeneres (Chris Delmas/Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Mariah Carey and Ellen DeGeneres (Chris Delmas/Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

The 2008 clip of Carey and DeGeneres went viral on social media last month amid an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, racism and workplace bullying behind the scenes of DeGeneres’ show. DeGeneres herself was not implicated in the allegations.

Three of the show’s top producers have been let go from the series as a result of the investigation, while employees have been offered extended holiday and additional time off.