Entertainment
She’s With Child
Singer Looks Ahead to The
Next Stage in Eventful Life
Chronicle News Services
NEW YORK--Don’t expect to see less of Mariah Carey now that she’s pregnant.
“Actually,” the singer quipped, “I suppose that you’ll be seeing more of me….when you see me.”
The singer laughs easily, shortly after confirming what had long been rumored: that she is, at 40, expecting her first child.
Miss Carey and her husband of 2½ years, “America’s Got Talent” host Nick Cannon, 30, broke the news in an interview that aired Thursday in part on “Today.”
Though it has been reported that she is about four months along, all Miss Carey will say is that she’s expecting in the spring.
“We don’t know the sex [of the child] yet,” she added. “I guess we should find out, but people didn’t used to find out, you know.”
Miss Carey does allow that she already was pregnant while working on “Merry Christmas II You,” which she delivers this week.
It’s her second holiday album and features a new version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” her smash hit from 1994’s “Merry Christmas.”
The original version is No. 2 on Billboard’s holiday chart, while the similarly bubbly new single, “Oh, Santa” (one of four new tunes on “II You”) is at No. 1.
“I was recording up to the last minute it was due,” she said, referring to the album. “It was down to the wire.”
“I was staying up 24 hours a day, doing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in one take,” she continued. “I just shot a video last night with my mom.”
Miss Carey’s mother is former opera singer Patricia Carey, whose lustrous mezzo-soprano graces a medley of “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “The Hallelujah Chorus.”
“I’ve spoken about my mother’s influence my whole life,” Miss Carey said. “So, this was like coming full circle.”
And there’s still more work to do: This weekend, Miss Carey will tape a holiday television special, “Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You,” to air Dec. 13 on ABC.
Asked if morning sickness or exhaustion has complicated all this activity, Miss Carey says: It’s more this constant feeling of ugh. There’s always a little bit of nausea, but throwing up is bad for your voice--the reflux is terrible--so, I’ve been trying to just keep calm….get through it.”
Miss Carey concedes in a telephone conversation that she had some anxiety about making her pregnancy public.
“I can’t remember the last time I was that nervous before an interview,” she stated. “I never get that way, but I had all this promotion [for the album] coming up, and it was like, ‘How do we keep not saying anything?’
“Honestly, I would have much rather waited before I had a party with the world about this, but you can only keep a secret for so long. It becomes stressful.
