Mariah Carey is breaking her silence following her engagement to Australian billionaire James Packer.
Speaking out for the first time since the big engagement news broke on January 22, Carey recently sat down with E! News where she joked that her huge engagement ring is so heavy that she can’t “lift her arm.”
“It’s so heavy I can’t lift my arm up!” Carey joked of her huge rock in the interview, before adding that the 35 carat diamond sparkler is “a nice chunk.”
Packer surprised Mariah with the huge rock last week, which is estimated to be worth upwards of $7.5 million and larger than both Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé’s respective engagement rings combined.
But, it wasn’t all about the jewelry when Mariah Carey spoke with E! News . Carey also spoke publicly about how Packer popped the question. She described the moment James asked her to marry him as being “very romantic.”
Congrats to Mariah Carey on her engagement. Her billionaire boyfriend popped the question with $7.5 million ring. pic.twitter.com/VlQGw3FeXZ
— WORLDSTARHIPHOP (@WORLDSTAR) January 22, 2016
“He’s an exceptional person and really… it gets more romantic by the day, so it’s very sweet,” Mariah said of her new fiancée, adding “I’m feeling fantastic, better than ever.”
Carey stayed a little more tight-lipped when it came to revealing exactly when she and Packer will be taking a walk down the aisle, though she did hint to E! News that her nuptials could be sooner rather than later. “If everything works out, it will be somewhat soon,” Mariah said, “I don’t mean if everything works out in that way, I mean there’s a lot that goes into it.”
Carey also got candid about rumors that she’d be wearing a $500,000 gown when the couple walk down the aisle, joking, “Well, how much speculation can there have been? It’s only been a week.”
“I am very excited about the dress, but I don’t want to talk about it yet, as I have to have my first fitting,” Mariah coyly told the site, just days after The Daily Mail alleged that she’s been eyeing a custom gown that features hundreds of 14 karat gold butterflies .
The site reported earlier this week that Mariah Carey has already reached out to Los Angeles fashion designer Sabrina DeSage, who specializes in creating gowns with intricate butterfly designs.
Exclusive: Mariah Carey opens up about her wedding plans and *that* ring: https://t.co/rtKg0MBHJ4 pic.twitter.com/BIpxX8wxcx
— E! News (@enews) January 30, 2016
“That’s [Mariah’s] thing of course, and Sabrina’s design has hundreds of gold butterflies, all sewn with 14-karat gold thread, flowing down the back of the silk gown and through the train,” a source told the site, before adding that Mariah’s dress is “going to be absolutely stunning.”
“Mariah reached out last fall and made it clear that she has asked several designers to create a one of a kind design for her and that she will ultimately choose one of them,” the insider continued of Carey’s big dress decision. “There’s no guarantee that Sabrina’s dress will be the one Mariah wears on the big day, but it’s a really exciting opportunity.”
While it sounds like Mariah won’t be going too understated when it comes to her dress, she did somewhat surprisingly reveal that her third wedding probably won’t be as big of an affair as her previous two ceremonies.
Carey told the E! News in the new interview that it’s unlikely she and Packer will be having a big wedding when they tie the knot and will likely be keeping things a little more toned down this time around.
“We are not doing a big wedding because he did two big weddings, and it’s kind of like, ‘I’ve done a big wedding [too]’,” Carey said, “We would rather make it beautiful but humble.”
When do you think Mariah Carey and James Packer will tie the knot?
[Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images]