Condolences to Mariah Carey, who is mourning the deaths of her mother Patricia and her sister Alison. In a tragic twist of fate, both of the women died on the same day. Patricia died at the age of 87 and Alison died at the age of 63. To say that the singer had a complicated relationship with both of the family members she is grieving is an understatement. Mariah did not get into the details of how either one of her loved ones passed, but she did release an emotional statement announcing their deaths.
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Mariah did not have an easy childhood. Some of that unease was due to the relationships she had with her mother and her siblings. Patricia, who was an opera singer and vocal coach, married Alfred Roy Carey in 1960 and they had three kids together—Alison, Morgan, and Mariah—before separating when Mariah was 3. Allow me to share what Mariah said about her mom and sister's passing and what she’s previously shared about her relationship with each of them.
"My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend. Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day," Mariah shared in a statement to People.
"I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed," Mariah continued. "I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time."
They had a complicated relationship.
"Like many aspects of my life, my journey with my mother has been full of contradictions and competing realities. It's never been only black-and-white—it's been a whole rainbow of emotions," she revealed in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
"Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment," Mariah elaborated. "A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother's."
Still, Mariah dedicated the memoir to her mother. "And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could," the Grammy winner wrote. "I will love you the best I can, always."
Despite their tumultuous relationship, Mariah chose to continue having a relationship with her mother throughout the years. They even preformed a duet of “O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus” for the Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You special in 2010 that leaves no doubt who Mariah got her voice from.
Mariah could not, however, maintain a relationship with her sister.
She explained in her memoir that it was simply “emotionally and physically safer for not to have any contact” with Alison or her brother Morgan for that matter.
In a particularly painful passage from her book, Mariah alleged that when she was 12 and Alison was 20, Alison drugged Mariah with Valium, offered her cocaine, gave her third-degree burns, and attempted to sell her to a pimp.
It’s not clear if Mariah was in contact with Alison at the time of Alison’s death. Mariah’s book was published in 2020. At that time, she was not in contact with her siblings. Partly because she accused them and her mom of treating her like “an A.T.M. with a wig on.”
After, Mariah’s memoir came out, Alison sued Mariah for $1.25 million.
"Plaintiff will demand an amount no less than $1.25 million compensation for the intentional infliction of immense emotional distress caused by defendant's heartless, vicious, vindictive, despicable and totally unnecessary public humiliation of defendant's already profoundly damaged older sister," the court document signed by Alison Carey stated.
What happened with the lawsuit?
According to In Touch, Alison’s lawsuit against Mariah was unresolved at the time of Alison’s death. Two weeks after Alison filed a summons with notice against Mariah in 2021, Mariah asked that an actual complaint be filed so she could respond, but nothing ever moved forward.
I hope that Mariah is able to find peace and come to terms with the difficult relationships she had with both her mother and sister.
