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Mariah Carey opens up about her marriage

‘We really kept the whole relationship aspect of it quiet,’ she says

Image: Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon
Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon surprised a lot of people when they tied the knot in May.
Shizuo Kambayashi / AP file
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Access Hollywood
updated 7:21 p.m. ET July 8, 2008

When Mariah Carey tied the knot with actor/rapper Nick Cannon in May, she caught some people by surprise.

To many, her Bahamas nuptials seemed to come on top of a quick romance, but in a new interview with Elle magazine, Carey hinted that the couple’s courtship was longer than people realized.

“We really kept the whole relationship aspect of it quiet,” Carey said in the magazine’s August issue. “Therefore, we didn’t really ‘date,’ you know what I mean? Because that would have been not quiet or private. I think we didn’t want to give people a chance to be like, ‘What are you doing? What are you talking about? This is so quick… Are you sure?’”

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As it turns out, Cannon gave Carey two opportunities to consider his proposal — popping the question once on her roof in Manhattan, and several days later mid-flight.

“He sort of kidnapped me and took me on a helicopter ride. Then he re-proposed,” she said.

Carey has hinted recently that children could be in the cards and she said Cannon would make a great father.

“I couldn’t image anybody that I’ve ever met being a better dad,” she said.

And marriage to Cannon has been nothing but a blessing.

“It’s definitely the best place I’ve ever been in my life. If you really look at my 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?” Carey said. “I put my career ahead of my personal life because I think 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.”

Copyright 2009 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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