Mariah under psychiatric care
Mariah Carey is under psychiatric care following last week's hospitalization, which her publicist now says was the result of an "emotional and physical breakdown". The 31-year-old singer, who has canceled all public appearances, including her headlining appearance at Wednesday night's MTV 20th birthday party, checked herself into an undisclosed hospital last week. At the time, her spokeswoman Cindi Berger said Carey was suffering from "extreme exhaustion".
But on Wednesday, Berger told The Associated Press: "She has suffered an emotional and physical breakdown... she is under psychiatric care." Berger denied tabloid reports that Carey tried to commit suicide. She said that just before the breakdown, Carey suffered cuts to her body, but the injuries were unintentional."She did break some dishes and glasses, and she may have stepped on them," Berger said.
Carey's breakdown comes at perhaps the most critical point in her 11-year career. The singer signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records in April after leaving Columbia Records, where she got her start. She'll star in a movie for the first time when "Glitter", about an aspiring pop star, opens later this month. She also performed the songs for the movie soundtrack, "Glitter".
But it's doubtful Carey will be able to promote either project. Berger could not say when Carey might be released. "I'm taking it one day at a time, but right now she is resting and improving," said Berger. Just before her hospitalization, Carey left two despondent messages on her official Web site, complaining of being overworked and getting too little attention from her new record label. She said she wanted to close her management company and take a break, but Berger said nothing has changed and her management remains the same.
Last month, Carey made a surreal impromptu appearance on MTV's "Total Request Live", dressed in little more than a lavender T-shirt and pushing an ice cream cart filled with popsicles for the teen audience. She also made a publicity appearance at a Long Island mall, where her publicist took a microphone away from her to prevent her from speaking.
Carey, who is divorced from Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola, had been dating Latin singer Luis Miguel. Berger said Miguel had not visited Carey in the hospital, but has called her manager to express concern. She said the two had not "officially broken up".
Carey has sold tens of millions of albums and has numerous No. 1 hits, including "Fantasy", "Dream Lover", and "Always Be My Baby". Her current single, "Loverboy", had been languishing on the charts because of poor radio airplay. Once Virgin dropped the price to 49 cents, it leaped to the No. 2 position on this week's Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. (CNN)
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