Global superstar, Mariah Carey is dealing with unfathomable grief as her mother and sister died on the same day over the weekend.
The Emancipation of Mimi songstress confirmed to TMZ that her mother, Patricia Carey, and her sister, Alison, died within hours of each other.
“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,” she said in a statement to TMZ. She did not specify which day they died.
“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” Carey added.
“I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
Carey did not disclose what caused the deaths of her family members.
Mariah Carey had ‘complicated’ relationships with her mother and sister
Carey, 55, had what is described by NBC News as a “complicated” relationship with her mother. Carey also elaborated on her mother, a former opera singer, with Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” in 2020.
She told Cohen that part of the reason she wrote her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, was to “emancipate” herself from the struggles of her upbringing by her mother. In the book, Carey said the mother-daughter relationship was a “prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment.”
Carey wrote that one day, she inadvertently let out a chuckle when her mother sang a Michael Jackson song in an operatic tone. Patricia Carey immediately ripped into her daughter for her imprudence.
“You should only hope that one day you become half the singer I am,” Carey wrote that her mother said at the time.
“Having people you love be jealous of you professionally comes with the territory of success, but when the person is your mother and the jealousy is revealed at such a tender age, it’s particularly painful.”
Carey’s relationship with her sister, Alison, was even more convoluted at times. TMZ reports that her sister filed a lawsuit against Carey over claims of abuse outlined in the book. Her brother, Morgan Carey, also filed suit over passages in the memoir.
Despite the oft-contentious relationship, Carey dedicated part of the book to her mother.
