Walters Lands Carey Interview

ByABC News
August 24, 2001, 1:57 PM

August 23 -- Bring the Kleenex: Mariah Carey will sit down with Barbara Walters to talk about her recent breakdown.The chat, which airs on Sept. 12 on 20/20, will be the first interview Carey has given since her high-profile meltdown. Conveniently, the interview will air just before Carey's movie Glitter hits theaters on its new release date of Sept. 21, and just after the album's soundtrack is released on Sept. 11

What will Carey talk about? Her publicist says the troubled songbird will "obviously discuss the reasons behind her hospitalization" among other things. While Mira Sorvino, Carey's co-star in her other film, Wise Girls, has denied that the Grammy-winning singer provoked a physical fight on the movie's set, other reports are surfacing of her diva-like behavior while making the movie. Variety's Army Archerd reports that Carey's busy promotion schedule resulted in delays and days missed from the set.

Producer Jack Sojka tells Archerd, "Behind her back the company called her 'the bitch' and 'the diva.'" However, Sojka says, "The crew didn't mind the delays: They got overtime because of her."

The producer says that Sorvino and Carey "clicked" at first, but that "the climate changed" when Carey's delays began to affect filming.Still, Sojka tells Archerd that he would hire Carey again, "now that she's had the courage to seek the help." Meanwhile, the film's ending has been revised to secure financing, Archerd reports. Originally, the waitress characters played by Carey, Sorvino, and Melora Walters were supposed to be bumped off by the mob, but Lion's Gate disapproved and called for a different ending, according to Sojka.