Nick Cannon has confessed his wife Mariah Carey was his dream girl growing up, and the pair's marriage is a "fairytale" come true.

The actor/comedian has been married to the Grammy-winning singer since 2008, but his adoration for Carey began long before the two ever became an item.

In an interview with Queen Latifah on her new talk show, Cannon confesses he's always had his eye on Carey, adding married life with her seems like a fantasy.

He admits, "She was my dream girl. Literally (I was) 12 years old... I knew Mariah was the one when her poster was on my wall. Like, 'I'm gonna marry her one day'.

"I spoke it into existence. People asked me who my celebrity crush was, and I was like, 'Mariah Carey. Watch, one day I'm going to meet her'. And then it happened. We were backstage at an awards show. The first thing she said to me was, 'I heard all those nice things you've been saying about me in interviews'.

"I saw her a few years later (when) she wanted me in her music video (for Bye Bye). We sat down to talk about what she wanted in her music video and from that day on, we've been together ever since."

Cannon, who has two-year-old twins with Carey, continues, "We truly have the fairytale relationship. Nothing like this ever happens. We take pride in that. You have to constantly work on it, but we've been blessed in so many ways, to where when you tell the story, it almost sounds like a Hollywood movie script."