Mariah in hospital with 'exhaustion'

Carey has just completed two films and an album

Pop singer Mariah Carey has checked herself into hospital suffering from "extreme exhaustion".

Carey's spokeswoman Connie Filipello made the announcement in London, but declined to say which hospital or which country it is in.

"Mariah Carey has been hospitalised for extreme exhaustion after completing two movies, Glitter and Wise Girls and simultaneously writing, recording and producing her album, the soundtrack Glitter," she said.

Ms Filipello added that the star checked herself in late last week.

Carey had number one hits every year of the 90s

The 31-year-old singer, who has sold tens of millions of records, was in London last week to promote her new album, but lives in New York.

Before going to the hospital, the Grammy-winning singer posted a message on her official website.

"What I'd like to do is just a take a little break or at least get one night of sleep without someone popping up about a video," Carey said.

"All I really want is to just be me and that's what I should have done in the first place. I don't say this much but guess what, I don't take care of myself."

Carey performed at the Pavarotti concert in aid of Kosovo and Guatamala

The message was subsequently removed and her New York spokeswoman Cindi Berger said: "She was obviously very tired and not thinking clearly."

Now Carey has cancelled all public appearances, including her performance at the MTV 20th anniversary celebrations.

She was set to be the star performer at the 1 August party.

Carey came up with the idea for the film Glitter, which is about an aspiring pop star.

Young talent

It is scheduled for US release next month and will mark Carey's debut for Virgin Records after signing a multimillion-dollar contract with the company.

The star was raised by her mother, a former opera singer and began singing at the age of four.

She began to write songs while she was at school and soon after graduation had broken into the recording industry, making her debut on Columbia Records in 1990.

She was the biggest-selling artist of the 1990s and her single Heartbreaker made music history in 1999, when it became her 14th number one single, a feat rivalled only by the Beatles (20) and Elvis Presley (17).