Mariah Carey is the latest celebrity to fall victim to a Twitter hack as the star's account was reportedly commandeered while she was taking a nap.

Carey, 49, says she was asleep when a series of tweets - some with racial slurs - were sent out to her 21 million followers.

The tweets also included suggestive messages about the rapper Eminem, including "Eminem has a little p***s" and "Eminem can still hold this p***y."

After Carey woke up and the tweets were deleted she wrote, "I take a freaking nap and this happens?"

In July, actress and entrepreneur Jessica Alba also fell foul of hackers when her account was taken over and a series of racist and homophobic slurs were tweeted.

After her account was recovered, Carey returned to business as usual by wishing her followers a happy new year and sharing a video of herself in a pool in the Dominican Republic, where she has been enjoying a luxurious break.

Carey had even more reason to celebrate this Christmas as her classic festive hit 'All I Want For Christmas' broke another record when she became the first popstar to have a chart-topping song in four separate decades.