Sideshow: Mariah Carey confirms the rumor

You know how some secrets aren't really secrets until the object of the secret confirms the heretofore not-very-secret information and then it's blasted all over the planet in terms like, "the secret finally is out"? You know how that happens, especially among the oh-so-discreet denizens of Celebrityville? Well, the monthslong not-so-secret secret of Mariah Carey's being with child has been verified by Carey herself in an interview with Access Hollywood, part of which was excerpted Thursday on NBC's Today show. Said Carey in a precise style that politicians would do well to copy, "Yes, we are pregnant, this is true." She then added, "It's been a long journey, but it's been tough because I have been trying to hold on to a shred of privacy, and that was not easy." That journey was made painfully long, she revealed, by the miscarriage she suffered not long after she and her husband, America's Got Talent host Nick Cannon, married in 2008. Here's wishing them the best.

First off, we don't mean fetid - we're speaking with international panache here, dontcha know. So, what's all the fete about? Billboard magazine has named

Fergie

, the only female member of the

Black Eyed Peas

, its Woman of the Year. She will be so crowned Dec. 2 at the 2010 Billboard Women in Music Event in New York. Billboard says the award "celebrates the most powerful and talented women in the music business." Billboard cites, in addition to her music, Fergie's "extensive charity work related to breast cancer awareness; . . . her fragrance line, Outspoken; her multiple fashion lines under Fergalicious; and her acting career." To all of this verbal kissy-face, the honoree replies: "I am humbled and excited."

Yes, The Sound of Music is an awfully long movie by today's standards, but we still get all tingly and teary-eyed watching it, especially as the von Trapp family hikes over the mountains to escape Nazi-held Austria. We have wondered ever since whether they survived. And there they were Thursday on the Oprah Winfrey show to let us know all is right. Of course, we are talking about the actors who played the von Trapp family in the movie (though it is comforting to know the actual family made it out alive, too). The cast, including Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and the seven young'uns who played the children, got together on this final season of Oprah's show in what Winfrey said was their first reunion in 45 years. Oy, how they've grown! On the show, Andrews recalled the famous, gorgeous, dizzying scene where she is on a mountaintop singing about the hills being alive. Turns out that besides music, they were rumbling with the vibrations from a helicopter that was filming the scene. Andrews said the chopper's downdraft kept knocking her to the ground. The thespians who played the children told of growth spurts and losing teeth during the filming - how sweet - while Plummer said he drank. (Perhaps Edel-Budweiser?) We are not so sure we like to hear the stories behind the stories of our favorite films. Better to believe only what we see on the screen.

Residents in the flooded areas of Tennessee have singing champions in country music stars

Garth Brooks

and

Trisha Yearwood

. The two announced Thursday that they would be putting on a Dec. 17 concert, with proceeds going to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. The flooding in May caused more than $2 billion in damage in Nashville alone, with even more destruction through the middle of the state. . . . It has been anticipated for years, and it soon could be coming true: People magazine reports that

Prince William

is likely to pop the question in February to his gal pal

Kate Middleton

. It can't be before Christmas, one of those royal-watchers says, because William must first get permission from

Queen Elizabeth

.