Singer Mariah Carey will give birth to her first child next spring, she announced on NBC television's Access Hollywood Thursday.

"Yes, we are pregnant, this is true!" said Carey, 41, alongside her husband, the rapper and actor Nick Cannon, 30.

The news put an end to months of rumors and speculation that the superstar was pregnant.

Carey revealed that she had a miscarriage two years ago, which explained her reluctance to go public with her latest pregnancy.

"It's been a long journey. It's been tough because I've been trying to hold on to a shred of privacy."

"At this point, there is no choice. I either talk or I hibernate," she said.

The couple does not know the sex of the baby and would not reveal Carey's due date.

Expressing joy at becoming a father, Cannon said, "The greatest gift on earth is a child."

"We've had names picked out from the first day we met and we want to stay true to that."

Carey said her miscarriage "kind of shook us both and took us into a place that was really dark and difficult."

"When that happened... I wasn?t able to even talk to anybody about it. That was not easy," she said.
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Cannon said she handled it well, however.

"It definitely brought us closer together," he said.

They married in the Bahamas in April 2008. It was the second marriage for Carey, whose five year marriage to producer Tony Mottola ended in divorce in 1998.

Her next album, "Merry Christmas II you", is scheduled to go on sale November 2. Carey has sold 175 million records since the start of her singing career in 1990.

Source: AFP