Mariah Carey says before meeting husband Nick Cannon, she was so down at times that she fantasized about being "kidnapped" from her life.

"When I was in an unhappy place in my life ... I always wanted to be kidnapped," the singer tells Elle magazine. "I just wanted a way out, but I didn't have one."

Carey also explains why she and Cannon kept their quick courtship and top-secret nuptials under the radar.

"We didn't want to give people a chance to be like, 'What are you doing? What are you talking about? This is so quick .... Are you sure?'"

Then, one night, while hanging out on the rooftop of her Manhattan apartment, Cannon popped the question with a 17-carat diamond hidden inside a candy ring pop.

"They've been calling me Cinderella since I first started out," she says of the proposal. "Most people would think, OK, please! This doesn't happen in real life."

A few days later, Carey really was "kidnapped."

"He sort of kidnapped me and took me on a helicopter ride," she says. "Then he re-proposed."

Click here to read more in Elle