Mariah Carey forced her husband Nick Cannon to propose twice so she could capture the "perfect moment" on film.

The 38-year-old 'Touch My Body' singer made her 28-year-old lover get down on one knee again, a day after his initial surprise proposal.

She said: "The next day, he took me on a helicopter ride around the Empire State Building. He got down on one knee and proposed again - someone was filming us this time because I decided I wanted a record of this perfect moment."

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The recording came as a change of heart for the star, who had initially decided to keep the intimate moment private.

She said: The next day, he took me on a helicopter ride around the Empire State Building

When she first discovered the 15 carat diamond ring hidden in a sweet wrapper, she ran to turn off a video camera so she could secretly celebrate.

She said: "I feel like everything in my life is always on film and I wanted this moment to be private. And I was so happy that I cried."

Mariah Carey has offered Hollywood's young female stars advice on how to get out of cars without exposing themselves to the lenses of the paparazzi.

The pop singer admits she feels bad for the young stars who are caught without their knickers as they're swarmed by photographers.

And she has offered up her expertise after her own embarrassing incident.

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Carey says: "They (photographers) got me one time but at least I had underwear on. I was very thankful for that.

"You lead with the leg, place the hand down and then you're up. Hopefully somebody is standing in front of you (and) then you proceed to walk".

But the singer also believes starlets should consider what type of vehicle they'll be stepping out of when they get dressed for a glitzy party, launch or premiere: "You don't want to be in an Escalade (Suv) in a teensy skirt - that's not easy".

In seperate news Mariah Carey has opened up about life with new husband Nick Cannon - insisting her marriage is "perfectly normal".


The 38-year-old pop star wed Cannon in the Bahamas in April (08) after a six-week whirlwind romance.

The Hero hitmaker is adamant that even though the pair walked down the aisle so soon after they began dating, the relationship is made to last.

She says, "People were confused about the whole thing in the beginning - they were like 'oh what's going on?' because it was so fast.

"But it's perfectly normal to us, because it just feels like this is how it was always supposed to be. We're best friends.

Mariah Carey has dressed up as a showgirl for her latest video.

Her new single, called I Stay In Love, shows the diva mastering the complicated art of tassel twirling.

The star wears a huge feather headdress and tail, as well as some sparkly underwear in the new video.

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Directed and co-written by her husband Nick Cannon, he clearly doesn't mind his missus looking her sexy best for the cameras.

Mariah's new track is the first single to be released from her eleventh studio album E=MC², which is due out next year.

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. According to Billboard magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.

Early Life
Carey was born in Huntington, Long Island, New York. She is the third and youngest child of Patricia (née Hickey), a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish descent, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of Afro-Venezuelan descent. Carey's parents divorced when she was three years old. While living in Huntington, racist neighbors allegedly poisoned the family dog and set fire to her family's car. After her parents' divorce, Carey had little contact with her father, and her mother worked several jobs to support the family. She spent much of her time at home alone, and turned to music to occupy herself. She began singing at around the age of three, when her mother began to teach her after Carey imitated her mother practicing Verdi's opera Rigoletto in Italian.

She graduated from Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York. She was frequently absent due to her work as a demo singer for local recording studios; her classmates consequently gave her the nickname "Mirage". Her work in the Long Island music scene gave her opportunities to work with musicians such as Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies, with whom she co-wrote material for her demo tape. After moving to New York City, Carey worked part-time jobs to pay the rent and completed five hundred hours of beauty school. Eventually, she became a backup singer for Puerto Rican freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr.

In 1988, Carey met Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola at a party, where Starr gave him Carey's demo tape. Mottola played the tape when leaving the party and was impressed. He returned to find Carey, but she had left. Nevertheless, Mottola tracked her down and signed her to a recording contract. This Cinderella-like story became part of the standard publicity surrounding Carey's entrance into the industry.