In an unfortunate turn of events, Mariah Carey lost her mother and sister on the same day. The Grammy Award-winning singer asked for privacy to mend her broken heart as she mourns the passing of two close family members. Carey expressed gratitude for being able to spend time with her mother in her final days despite their complicated relationship.
For most of her life, Mariah Carey has had a difficult relationship with her birth family, including her mother and sister. However, she feels blessed to have spent her mother’s last days with her. Sadly, the same cannot be said about her sister. As news about the death of two of Carey’s family members continues to unfold, here’s everything you need to know.
What Happened To Mariah Carey’s Mother and Sister?
Mariah Carey’s mom Patricia and sister Alison died on August 24, 2024. The All I Want For Christmas Is You singer confirmed this in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE as she mourns with a broken heart. “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. Carey added that she got to spend time with her mother before she passed and asked for privacy during this difficult time.
“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 and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.” Meanwhile, she didn’t share further details about her dead family members, including their causes of death. However, her sister battled drug addiction for a long time and was diagnosed with HIV in 1990.
Alison was in hospice care in her home according to her close friend David Baker who spoke to DailyMail. He also revealed that her internal organs were failing before she finally passed. Nevertheless, her death has not been officially linked to a particular health challenge.
Mariah Carey Shared a Complicated Relationship With Her Mother
Born into a bi-racial home, Mariah Carey didn’t have the best childhood. Patricia’s family disowned her for marrying a black man, Alfred Roy Carey, whom she later divorced when Carey was 3 years old. Subsequently, Carey was raised by her mother and had little connection with her father. Growing up, Carey’s relationship with her mother became strained and the singer poured her heart out in her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey (2020).
“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 wrote in her memoir. The singer also revealed that her mother was surprisingly jealous of her career which fueled the friction between them. “Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment. Jealousy 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.”
Nevertheless, Carey and Patricia maintained a good relationship. “A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother’s,” she wrote in her memoir. Despite their complicated relationship, Carey credits her singing talent to her Juliard-trained opera singer mom. Carey’s mother reportedly spent her last days at a senior care facility in West Palm Beach after her Westchester County, N.Y., home was sold. Carey bought the home for her mom in the 1990s.
Mariah Carey Is Estranged From Her Siblings
The award-winning singer has kept her distance from both Alison and her older brother Morgan who took legal action against her for making ‘cruel and outrageous allegations’ in her book. Carey called Alison her ex-sister in her memoir and claimed she tried to introduce her to drugs as a child. “When I was 12 years old, my sister drugged me with Valium, offered me a pinky nail full of cocaine … and tried to sell me out to a pimp. Something in me was arrested by all that trauma. That is why I often say, “I’m eternally 12.” I am still struggling through that time,” Carey wrote in her memoir.
About her complex relationship with Alison, Carey wrote that it was “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact with her or Morgan.” Speaking to DailyMial, Baker said Mariah Carey never called to check on Alison whose dying wish was to connect with her. “Alison was hurt by the way she was treated by her mother and Mariah, but she always had mixed feelings about her mother. But I know it was her dying wish if she could’ve at least had a conversation with Mariah.” Sadly, the sisters remained in estrangement until the last moment. Read all about Richard Simmons‘s cause of death.
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