In an exclusive interview with "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush, Mariah Carey confirms, "yes we are pregnant, this is true!" Carey told Bush -- in a segment which aired on TODAY Thursday morning -- that it's been a struggle to keep the news private. "It's been a long journey, but it's been tough because I've been trying to have ... to hold onto a shred of privacy. And that was not easy."
In the spirit of some privacy, Carey, who shared the news with Bush from her home in Tribeca, didn't divulge how far along she is. "It's still early, I'm expecting in the spring, I'll say that. I don't want to give too much of like, specific outlines." Carey chose to share the happy news now because her new album, "Merry Christmas 2 U" drops next week. Her husband Nick Cannon, who was also on hand for the interview, describes the journey as an emotional one. "Uh, it's absolutely emotional, but first, so many reasons I mean obviously the greatest gift on earth is a child," Cannon said. "But ... you know how much we have been through, you know." Cannon is referring to something that's not been made public until now, that Carey suffered a miscarriage. Two years ago, shortly after the couple's secret wedding, Carey and Cannon were in Monte Carlo for the World Music Awards when Carey took a pregnancy test, and it turned out to be positive. "Only one person knew about this and we were like, um, 'let's not tell anybody else,'" Carey said. A little more than a month later, she miscarried. "It was really sad so we had to just, we had really to absorb this and take it in," Carey said. Cannon added, "And that's what I said, like her strength would literally be during the day so festive and smiling obviously for cameras and spending time with everyone and you know, literally that night crying herself to sleep." Bush added on TODAY that the couple conceived naturally, and that they would not be finding out whether the baby was a boy or a girl before its birth. For more details, tune in to "Access Hollywood" Thursday.