The 31-year-old singer, who has canceled all public appearances, including herappearance at the August 1 MTV 20th birthday party, checked herself into an undisclosedhospital last week. At the time, her spokeswoman Cindi Berger said Carey was suffering from”extreme exhaustion.”

Then on August 1, Berger said the singer “has suffered an emotional and physical breakdown … she is under psychiatric care.”

Berger denied tabloid reports that Carey tried to commit suicide. She said that just before the breakdown, Carey suffered cuts to her body, but the injuries were unintentional.

“She did break some dishes and glasses, and she may have stepped on them,” Berger said.

Carey’s breakdown comes at perhaps the most critical point in her 11-year career. The singersigned a multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records in April after leaving ColumbiaRecords, where she got her start.

She recently finished filming two movies, “Glitter” – which is set to open later this month – and “Wise Girls,” while simultaneously writing, recording and producing her newest album, the soundtrack “Glitter.”

It’s not clear if Carey will be able to promote the project. Berger could not say when Careymight be released from the hospital.

“I’m taking it one day at a time, but right now she is resting and improving,” said Berger.

Just before her hospitalization, Carey left two despondent messages on her official Web site,saying she felt overworked and was getting too little attention from her new record label. Shesaid she wanted to close her management company and take a break, but Berger said nothing haschanged and her management remains the same.

Last month, Carey made a surreal impromptu appearance on MTV’s “Total Request Live,” pushing an ice cream cart filled with popsicles for the teen audience. She also made a publicity appearance at a Long Island mall, where her publicist took a microphone away from her to prevent her from speaking.

Carey has sold tens of millions of albums and has numerous No. 1 hits, including “Fantasy,” “Dream Lover,” and “Always Be My Baby.”