Mariah Carey expecting her first baby

Carey and Cannon tied the knot two years ago

US singer Mariah Carey has confirmed that she and her husband, America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon, are expecting their first child.

"Yes, we're pregnant, this is true. We're expecting in the spring," said Carey in a TV interview.

Carey, 40, also revealed she had suffered a miscarriage soon after she and Cannon married in 2008.

"It's been tough, because I have been trying to hold on to a shred of privacy," she told Access Hollywood.

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

Carey has not revealed the sex of the baby. According to her husband, however, the child's name has already been decided.

"We've had names picked out from the first day we met and we want to stay true to that," Cannon told presenter Billy Bush.

The couple married in the Bahamas in April 2008. Carey's first marriage to to producer Tony Mottola ended in divorce in 1998.

News of Carey's pregnancy emerged after British actress Thandie Newton accidentally disclosed it on US chat show The View.

"I think she is pregnant," said Newton when asked why she had taken over Carey's role in the film For Colored Girls.