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Scammer calls social worker on Mariah Carey, husband says

By Alan Duke, CNN
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Nick Cannon on Guinness controversy
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Carey accused of "drinking and drugs" while breastfeeding twins, Nick Cannon says
  • Carey drank "a small amount of Guinness" at a nurse's suggestion, he says
  • Carey and her twins are still hospitalized almost 2 weeks after their birth
  • The family will eventually release photos of the twins, Cannon says
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Los Angeles (CNN) -- New mother Mariah Carey got a hospital visit from a social worker this week, according to her husband, after someone complained that Carey was abusing her newborn twins by consuming alcohol and drugs while breastfeeding.

Husband Nick Cannon said Thursday that the situation may have been triggered by a nurse's suggestion that a small amount of dark beer could help Carey's breastfeeding -- and Cannon added that it all could have been the work of a scammer trying to sell a story to tabloids.

Carey and her twins, born two weeks ago, remain hospitalized while she recovers from a Caesarean delivery and the babies are treated in a neonatal intensive care unit.

"Child protective services were called with allegations that, you know, there was some drinking and drugs and all that going on while in the hospital, which again makes no sense to me," Cannon told CNN's Piers Morgan in an interview to air Thursday night. "Like, how would a hospital even allow that?"

In an interview Thursday with A.J. Hammer to air on HLN's "Showbiz Tonight," Cannon said the social worker approached him in the hospital hallway, saying "they were here to see me because there had been allegations that there was drug and alcohol use, not only during the stay in the hospital."

The trigger for the social worker's visit Tuesday was apparently a suggestion by a nurse that Carey drink "a small amount of Guinness, the dark beer, that it improves the yeast for breastfeeding or the yeast improves breastfeeding," Cannon said. Carey consumed a small amount, following the nurse's suggestion, according to Cannon.

"I guess someone maybe overheard that (suggestion), and this is a good way to make a quick buck, or call the tabloids," he said. "It's kind of sad that people think that we'll make money off of these newborns."

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services would not comment, citing confidentiality rules.

Cannon also said there's been a problem with "people posing as workers in the hospital with cameras trying to get pictures."

The family will eventually release photos of son Moroccan Scott and daughter Monroe Cannon, he said.

"I don't want to put pictures out there, but then when you think about the fact that, you know, you're going to have photographers and people going to these lengths to get pictures, it gets a little scary," Cannon said. "So you have to figure out a way, like, all right, we got to give the public what they want. But then at the same time, you have to do it in a classy way, in a way that doesn't seem like we are out there parading our children out."

CNN's Brittany Kaplan and Marc Balinsky contributed to this report.

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