Mariah Carey was so shocked by her now husband Nick Cannon proposing to her on the roof of her New York apartment that she ran away from him.

The singer, who appears with the E=MC2 songstress in her video for Bye Bye, got down on bended knee as the pair was gazing at the Empire State Building, lit up in pink and purple to mark the release of Carey's new album.

He presented her with a Ring Pop candy, but placed a 17-carat pink diamond inside the plastic casing and tied the whole thing up with ribbon. 

Carey admits she thought the plastic candy toy was broken when she first saw it and couldn't believe it when she realised her boyfriend was proposing.

Cannon explains: "She ran away and got all shy."

She finally said yes and confirmed she'd marry the actor/rapper during a helicopter flight he had planned shortly after.

She tells People magazine: "That was beautiful."

See photos of the happy couple here.