Mariah Carey is showing off her great new body on the cover of the August issue of Elle magazine (though I thought she looked great before anyway!). Inside she talks about how she got (more) fit, her love life, and her new album.

Highlights?

On her unhappy past: “When I was in an unhappy place in my life, I always wanted to be kidnapped. I just wanted a way out, but didn’t have one.”

On Nick Cannon saving her: “He sort of kidnapped me and took me on a helicopter ride. Then he re-proposed. (His first proposal had taken place on Mariah’s roof in Manhattan a couple of evenings prior and involved the hiding of a 17-carat diamond ring inside a candy ring pop.) They’ve been calling me Cinderella since I first started out, so, of course, being Cinderella… Most people would think, Okay, please! This doesn’t happen in real life.”

On keeping her and Nicks’ romantic involvement on the down low: “We really kept the whole relationship aspect of it quiet. Therefore, we didn’t really ‘date,’ you know what I mean? Because that would have been not quiet or private. I think 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?”

On her racial ambiguity naturally attracting her to Barack Obama as a presidential candidate: “I can relate a lot to so many of the stories he tells. Clearly I am not the political analyst of the ages, but this is something that hits me on a deeper level than anything I’ve ever experienced growing up… I would be honored if he wanted me to be involved in any way. Right now I’m kind of watching from the sidelines.”