Mariah Carey’s mother Patricia and sister Alison died on the same day over the weekend, the US singer has said in a statement.
“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” Carey said on Monday. “Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.”
The Grammy-winning singer said she felt blessed to have spent time with her mother in the week before her death and asked for privacy.
She gave no further details about either woman’s cause of death.
The 55-year-old continued, “I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed.”
“I appreciate everyone’s love and support,” Mariah added, “and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
Mariah didn’t share additional information, including Patricia and Alison’s causes of death.
Patricia 87 was a Juilliard-trained opera singer and vocal coach. She went on to marry Alfred Roy Carey, welcoming three children—Morgan, Alison, and Mariah—before divorcing when Mariah was 3 years old
Over the years, Mariah has been candid about the difficult relationships she had with her mother and sister, detailing both in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah.
“Like many aspects of my life, my journey with my mother has been full of contradictions and competing realities,” the Grammy winner wrote. “It’s never been only black-and-white—it’s been a whole rainbow of emotions.”
Early in life, Mariah bonded with Patricia over the duo’s shared love of music. However, the “Fantasy” singer noticed a shift in their relationship when she turned 14: She and her mother were in the car together and Patricia began singing Micheal Jacksons’ “Somebody’s Watching Me” hook in an “elaborate, operatic style.” The moment caused Mariah to giggle and Patricia demanded to know what was so funny.
“I stuttered, ‘Um, well…that’s just not how it goes,'” Mariah wrote in her memoir. “She stared at me until every bit of lightness faded. Almost growling, she said, ‘You should only hope that one day you become half the singer I am.’ My heart dropped. Still, to this day, what she said haunts and hurts me.”
Mariah—who shares twins Monroe and Moroccan, 13, with ex-husband Nick Cannon—wrote that it was her “first glimpse into how misguided words from a mother can affect a child.”
“Having people you love to be jealous of you professionally comes with the territory of success,” she added, “but when the person is your mother and the jealousy is revealed at such a tender age, it’s particularly painful.”
She also recalled her difficult experiences with her sister Alison, explaining in her memoir that by the time Alison was in her 20s, she had “already gotten married, given birth, gotten divorced, traveled thousands of miles away” and returned home to a life of what Mariah described as bartering “her body for money and drugs.”
Mariah revealed that when she was 12 years old, her sister “drugged me with Valium, offered me a pinky nail full of cocaine, inflicted me with third-degree burns, and tried to sell me out to a pimp.”
That time was so traumatic that Mariah theorized it’s the reason she feels “eternally 12,” writing, “I am still struggling through that time.”
Mariah Carey is regarded as one of the most successful singers globally.
Her holiday single All I Want For Christmas Is You is the best-selling Christmas song by a female artist of all time.
She holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist at 19 songs, has sold over 220 million records worldwide, and served as a judge on the competition show American Idol.
