Pop diva Mariah Carey confessed during an interview for Allure magazine that she used to dream all the time about being kidnapped, only to escape from her marriage with Tommy Mottola.

Mariah, 35, married with the Columbia Records boss Tommy Mottola for five years, declared she often fantasised about being kidnapped so she could get out of their relationship.

She said: "I longed for someone to come kidnap me back then. I used to fantasise about that a lot. I'd have my pocketbook with me at all times in case I had to make an escape."

Mariah Carey met Tommy Mottola in 1988, at a party. Carey, then 23, and Tommy Mottola, 43, had become romantically involved, and in June 1993 married in an Episcopalian ceremony followed by a lavish wedding reception in Manhattan.

Carey and Mottola separated in 1997; although she had often projected the image of a happy marriage to the public, in reality, she had felt emotionally and psychologically abused by Tommy.

He was often described as possessive even to the point of spying on Carey when she had friends over, and telling their live in servants not to look at her in the eye to intimidate her. Their divorce became final the following year.