Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

CAREY, HOUSTON COME CLEAN IN INTERVIEWS

Two troubled divas with new albums to promote have come clean with reporters about their assorted addictions, break-downs and love lives. In an interview on "Dateline NBC," Mariah Carey says it is "absolutely not" true she tried to commit suicide two summers ago.

"I'm far too much of a spiritual person to do that," the 32-year-old pop star explains. "I would never get to that point. That's God's choice when it's time for me to go."

Asked if reports that she suffered a nervous break-down were accurate, Carey again said "No."

"No, a nervous breakdown is not accurate," she tells NBC's Matt Lauer. "Because a nervous breakdown, you know, you don't recover from so quickly. All I needed was, like, five hours' sleep."

Carey is the top-selling female artist who has sold more records than any woman in history. She reportedly sought psychological treatment after suffering a series of career setbacks, including the icy reception given to her acting debut in "Glitter" and her album of the same name. She also was dropped from her recording label, EMI's Virgin Records.

Carey admits the non-stop nature of her career got the better of her, but insists she won't take it all so seriously anymore.

"At a certain point I said: 'You know what? Forget this. Forget this whole career at this moment, because it's too much for me. ... I'm overly tired. I can't do it as a human being,'" she tells Lauer. "Nobody was hearing those last two words, 'human being.' They were used to the Mariah that always gets up and goes. ... And I was, like, 'You know what, it's time for me to deal with myself as a regular person.'"

Carey currently is promoting her album, "Charmbracelet," produced by Universal's Island Def Jam.

Houston, meanwhile, credits daily prayer with helping her kick her addictions to drugs and alcohol.

"I'm not the strongest every day, but I'm not the weakest, either," the stunning 39-year-old says in an interview with Diane Sawyer, scheduled to air Wednesday night. "And I won't break."

During the sit-down, the Grammy-winning singer reveals she has abused alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and pills, admitting she is "addicted to a few things," including sex.

"Making love," Houston says. "I don't like to think of myself addicted. I like to think ... I had a bad habit ... which can be broken."

While baring her soul to Sawyer, Houston also denied her recent weight loss meant she is suffering from eating disorders.

"Let's get that straight. I am not sick. OK?" she says. "I've always been a thin girl. I am not going to be fat, ever. Let's get that straight. Whitney is not going to be fat, ever."

Houston's new album, "Just Whitney," comes out Dec. 10.

ARACHO WHACKS JACKO

It wasn't the lawyers nipping at his heels that had Michael Jackson on crutches earlier today -- it was a spider.

The pop star hobbled into a California courtroom on crutches Tuesday, explaining his foot swelled up after he was bitten by a spider while his home was fumigated.

He emphasized the arachnid with the nasty chompers was a common house spider and not one of his pet tarantulas.

Jackson is being sued for $21 million by a German concert promoter after he allegedly broke his contract and canceled two millennium concerts.

"It is a spider bite. It is real bad. If I showed it to you, you'd be shocked. It hurts very much right now as I speak," he told reporters.