Mariah Carey is addressing recent claims about the origins of her feud with rapper Eminem.
The “Here for It All” singer, 56, played “Plead the Fifth” on the Wednesday, October 1, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, and among the juicy questions put to the superstar was one about whether Eminem, 52, asked her to play his mom in his autobiographical drama 8 Mile. (Music producer Damion “Damizza” Young first made the claims in a June podcast appearance.)
“From what I heard, there is truth to that, but I don’t think that he actually… Well, who knows who approached who,” Carey told host Andy Cohen.
Cohen then asked, “Did that ignite the beef?”
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“No. Maybe. It depends what he’s thinking. I really don’t care. Whatever he’s said then I’m that, fine. Not really, but that’s a rap lyric,” she said, brushing off the long-standing feud between the two stars.
Back in June, Young, a music producer who began working with Carey in 1988, said he introduced the singer to Eminem.
Young said on the “TFU” podcast that Slim Shady apparently wanted Carey, who is four years older than him, to play his character’s mother in 8 Mile.
“She did not like that s*** at all. Her insecurities kicked in big time,” Young claimed.
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Young said he warned Eminem against offering Carey the role. “Don’t do this. I know where you’re going with this,” he recalled telling the rapper. “I’m managing this girl, and it’s gonna cause me a problem. … If I don’t say something and then it comes another route in the business or something, then I’m the bad guy.”
The part eventually went to Kim Basinger, who is 19 years Eminem’s senior.
Over the years, Eminem and Carey have had differences of opinion about their professional and personal relationship. Eminem claimed they once dated, which Carey has denied.
“I hung out with him, I spoke to him on the phone. I think I was probably with him a total of four times. And I don’t consider that dating somebody,” she told Larry King in a 2002 interview after Eminem alluded to a romantic relationship with the singer in a Rolling Stone interview.
In 2006, Eminem reportedly said on his Shade 45 radio station that he dated Carey for around seven months. “I wasn’t really into what she was into; our personalities collided,” he said. “She’s a diva, and I’m a little more regular, I guess.”
