LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Singer Mariah Carey asked fans Wednesday to pray for her rap artist and actor husband Nick Cannon after he was admitted to hospital suffering from mild kidney failure.

Tweeting a picture of her cuddled up with Cannon in his hospital bed, feeding him a drink through a straw, the Grammy-winning artist said the situation was “serious” but said he was fighting to recover.

“Please pray for Nick as he’s fighting to recover from a mild kidney failure,” she said in a Twitter message.

The tweet was accompanied by a picture of the couple which showed Cannon wearing a beanie hat, swaddled beneath a pillow.

Elaborating on her website, Carey joked that the situation was a role reversal from last year, when she was in hospital to give birth to their twins.

“Last year it was me attached to the machines (after having dembabies) and Nick was there with me through it, and now here we are,” she wrote from Aspen, Colorado, where the couple were on holiday when the health scare occurred.