What happened with Mariah Carey and Eminem? Feud explained as singer addresses beef with rapper

Mariah Carey has addressed her years-long beef with Eminem during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live last night.

Host Andy Cohen played a game of “Plead The Fifth!" with her, where she's only allowed to remain quiet on one of three questions he asks her. First, he probed about how much she makes from her hit song, “All I Want for Christmas Is You."

She declined to answer, prompting Cohen to ask her for her reaction to her ex Nick Cannon's recent comments that he insured his testicles for 10 million dollars.

“Lord, help me,” she quipped.

Cohen then asked her about Eminem:

“This summer, a music producer claimed the real reason why you and Eminem started beefing was because he approached you about playing his mom in 8 Mile,” Cohen said. “Is there any truth to that?”

Mariah Carey responded:

“From what I heard there is truth to that,” Carey replied. “But I don’t think that he actually—well, who knows who approached who.”

When Cohen asked her if that's what ignited the drama between her and Slim Shady, she responded:

“Um, no. I mean, maybe. It depends what he’s thinking. I really don’t care. Like, whatever he’s said, then I’m that, fine. Not really. But that’s a rap lyric.”

---

The decades-long drama between Eminem and Mariah Carey explored:

As reported by Page Six, Eminem and Mariah Carey's infamous feud began two decades ago. In the early 2000s, the former claimed that he and the pop diva dated for six months.

“What you tryna be? My new wife?/What, you Mariah? Fly through twice," he rapped in his 2002 song “Superman."

At the time, he echoed the claims in a conversation with Rolling Stone:

“I don’t want to say anything disrespectful because I respect her as a singer, but on the whole personal level, I’m not really feeling it. I just don’t like her as a person. I gotta be honest; I learned a lesson from it: Don’t believe the hype. I have respect for her, but she doesn’t really have it all together. I’ll just say that and that she’s a beautiful woman.”

Mariah Carey, however, refuted the claims. In a conversation with Larry King later that year, she reportedly said that she spent time with the rapper, but that was the extent of their relationship:

“I hung out with him, I spoke to him on the phone. I think I was probably with him a total of four times,” she said. “And I don’t consider that dating somebody.”

Years later, Eminem released a diss track against her and her then-husband, Nick Cannon, called “Bagpipes From Bagdad.”

“Mariah, whatever happened to us?/Why did we have to break up?/I can’t imagine what’s going through your mind after such a nasty breakup with that Latin hunk Luis Miguel/Nick Cannon better back the f*** up/I’m not playin’, I want her back, you punk … I mean, I really want you bad, you c***/Nick, you had your fun, I’ve come to kick you in your sack of junk," he raps.

Mariah Carey then shot back with a single, "Obsessed," where she accused Eminem of being hyperfixated on her:

“Oh, why you so obsessed with me (boy, I wanna know)/Lying that you’re sexing me (when everybody knows)/It’s clear that you’re upset with me/Finally found a girl that you couldn’t impress/Last man on the earth still couldn’t hit this.”

In the music video, she dressed as a hooded stalker, prompting everyone to think she was dressed as Slim Shady. The latter shot back yet again with “The Warning," the lyrics of which include:

“Oh, gee, is that supposed to be me? In the video with the goatee? Wow Mariah, I didn’t expect you to go b**** out. B****, shut the f*** up before I put all them phone calls out you made to my house when you was wildin’ out before Nick, when you was on my d*** and give you something to smile about.”

By 2010, however, Eminem spoke to Vibe magazine about wanting to leave the beef with Mariah Carey in the past:

“I really don’t want to talk about her anymore,” he told the publication. “I don’t want to keep beating a dead horse. I’m not even going to comment about it. I’m done with that whole situation. I said what I had to say. I’m done.”

---

Stay tuned to SoapCentral for more.