Mariah Carey has opened up about the "mental" and "emotional" abuse she suffered during her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola in an explosive new TV interview.

Promoting new film Precious, in which she plays a social worker trying to help an abused teenager, the pop star told CNN anchorman Larry King she's no stranger to abuse.

Asked for her thoughts about Chris Brown's attack on Rihanna in February during a taped interview with King, which airs on Wednesday night, Carey told the host, "I was very sequestered, as you know, when I first started out and if I were just allowed to be young and with a young boyfriend who's also a star... I don't know what goes on.

"I wasn't really allowed out of the house, so I can't imagine what she went through."

Asked if anyone had ever abused her, Mariah said, "Abuse has several categories... emotionally, mentally, in other ways."

She refused to go into details, but told King she sympathised with women who struggle to break free from abusive relationships: "It's scary. I just think you get into a situation and you feel locked in. If your situation is similar to one of the situations I've been in, which I won't harp on... For me, to really get out of it was difficult because there was a connection that was not only a marriage, but a business where the person was in control of my life."

Carey was married to Mottola from 1993 to 1998.