Nick Cannon Defends Mariah Over Idol Row

Nick Cannon has spoken out in defence of his wife Mariah Carey in the wake of [uuid=4b61b846-a5d0-4540-8b9a-d10b67227f88]Nicki Minaj on the set ofAmerican Idol.

The US TV personality commented on the incident during an appearance on Access Hollywood, saying: "My wife is the strongest and the classiest woman that I've ever met.

"If you watch the video, she just maintains her composure like she does. I don't think she's moved by the theatrics and the pageantry of it all. She signed up to do a job to help young people accomplish their dreams and this is like a sidebar.

"I hope that's not what this show becomes about, the catfights."

And he said that Mariah hadn't been sitting at home seething after the confrontation either.

"She called me and we were talking about the kids," he explained. "It wasn't shaking it off, it's like that's work - at the end of the day she's a mom and she's my wife, so we don't sit and go over, 'Oh, this is what happened'.

"As much as it seems like big news to everybody, we've got diapers to change and kids to raise."

He also expressed his disappointment in TV network Fox, suggesting that it may have had a hand in leaking the footage.

"I believe that the show is solely about a singing competition," he said. "That's why America loves these shows, because they want to see people reach a certain goal or win a million dollars or whatever the prize is on all of these shows.

"And then to make it about something that it's not kind of shows that the producers and the network are kind of losing their foot a little bit. If I'm producing a show that's about young people accomplishing dreams, that's what I want the show to be about - not all the side pageantry."

Meanwhile an unnamed source has told People that Mariah wasn't getting upset about the row.

"She's not going to let this faze her now. The outbursts won't faze her... She'll handle [it] with poise and grace. Mariah has dealt with far worse in her career."

And a source close to Nicki apparently explained that she is "tough and direct-minded"

The mole said: "[She's] always been really professional, but she's like a GaGa or Madonna and is very serious about the order of things."

Idol producer "Nasty" Nigel Lythgoe has denied rumours that Nicki threatened to "shoot" Mariah.

We told you this morning how Nicki had apparently claimed Mariah called her a bitch.

CHECK OUT PICS OF NICKI, MARIAH & CO ON AMERICAN IDOL HERE!