Mariah Carey most likely will not be singing Ellen DeGeneres’s praises – or coming to her defense – any time soon.
While she harbors no grudges, she did admit to Vulture in a recent profile that the now-embattled talk-show host once outed her as pregnant on-air before she was ready to go public with the news.
Carey subsequently suffered a miscarriage, though not because of the show.
In a bid to get Carey to confirm rumors that she was pregnant with then husband Nick Cannon, DeGeneres backed her into a corner, offering her champagne that Carey pretended to drink.
That was all DeGeneres needed, and she forced the admission.
“I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment, is all I can say,” Carey told Vulture. “And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath.”
She hadn’t wanted to make the news public because she’d had a previous miscarriage, she said.
Now, as DeGeneres is under siege with allegations that she fostered a toxic workplace, the clips of that interview are surfacing.
“I don’t want to throw anyone that’s already being thrown under any proverbial bus, but I didn’t enjoy that moment,” Carey told Vulture, adding that there’s “an empathy that can be applied to those moments that I would have liked to have been implemented” but that she felt totally put on the spot. “But what am I supposed to do?”
Carey has since appeared on “Ellen” and done other appearances with her – and given birth to twins – but she can’t deny that the exchange left its mark.
DeGeneres came under fire starting in April, when staffers complained of a lack of communication about the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on their jobs, and suffered 60% pay cuts. In June, employees said she had tolerated and thus cultivated toxic working conditions. Three producers have left the show as a result, and DeGeneres has apologized numerous times to staff.
In the melee, celebrities have come down on both sides, both in support – among them the British singer Adele and actress Portia de Rossi, who’s also married to DeGeneres – and against, such as actor Brad Garrett, who tweeted, “It comes from the top.”
