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NEW YORK—Nick
Cannon is cast as Mariah Carey’s lover in
her new video—but has the superstar diva given the young
actor a considerably bigger role in real life? According
to several published reports, Carey, 38, married Cannon,
27, on Wednesday. Neither Carey’s publicist nor Cannon’s
manager returned requests from The Associated Press for
comment.
If the
pair did indeed wed, it would be a whirlwind romance.
Word that the two were seeing each other first surfaced
in the past few weeks. Last Saturday Carey was seen
sporting a huge diamond ring on her finger at the
Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her movie
Tennessee,
in which she plays a waitress. Cannon was at her side at
the party. Speculation swirled that the couple were
engaged.

MARIAH CAREY at the Tribeca
premiere of her movie, flashing her supposed engagement
ring worth $2.5 million.
Latina.com was first to report that the two got married,
at Carey’s home in the Bahamas. Friday’s New York Post
also had the pair wed. People magazine on its web site
Friday quoted a clergyman, Bishop Clifford Petty of the
National Church of God in the Caribbean, as saying he
presided over the wedding.
E Online
quoted a relative of Cannon’s as saying that he called
his family and confirmed the news.
“He
called us and told us all about it. We are happy for
him. If that is what he wants, then we are happy for
him,” Linda Cannon, identified simply as a family
member, was quoted telling E.
People
reported Friday that Carey had obtained a marriage
license on the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas,
where she has an estate.
Cannon
has put out a rap album but is best known for his role
in the movie Drumline and a Nickelodeon TV series
(yes, Nickelodeon—Cannon is 11 years Carey’s junior).
He’s featured in Carey’s upcoming video for “Bye Bye.”
While
Carey and Cannon (or is it the Cannons?) were playing
coy, the famed jeweler Jacob & Co. was quick to
publicize its apparent role in the reputed union with a
news release touting the ring Cannon reportedly gave
her.
The
release described it as “crafted from platinum and
features a square, emerald-cut, fancy light-pink diamond
as the center stone surrounded by 58 intense pink
diamonds and two half moon diamonds on each side.
“The
total carat weight of the ring—center stone is 10
carats—is a jaw-dropping 17 carats with a value of $2.5
million.”
Cannon
does have experience with engagement rings. The actor,
who has previously romanced singer Christina Milian and
voluptuous reality star Kim Kardashian, last year gave a
15-carat stone to Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks
as he proposed in grand fashion—on the Jumbotron in New
York’s Times Square. Cameras were flashing as she said
yes. They split just a few months later.
The
Carey-Cannon match is already getting considerably more
ink, leaving some to wonder whether it’s a publicity
stunt: After all, she’s just released a No. 1 album
(E=MC2 is on the top of the charts), and he has at least
four movies due out this year.
But then
again, Carey is one of the most successful artists in
music, and hardly needs a marriage to get attention:
She’s already scored a No. 1 hit off the album with
“Touch My Body.”
This
would be Cannon’s first marriage but Carey’s second. She
famously wed top music executive Tommy Mottola in an
extravagant wedding in 1993. They had a bitter divorce
in 1998. |