In a shocking announcement, Mariah Carey revealed that her mother Patricia, and sister Alison, passed away on the same day.
“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,” the Grammy-winning singer, 55, said in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE.
No details have been shared about the manner of their deaths, whether their demise was caused by an accident in which they were both involved, or whether it was simply a tragic coincidence that they died on the same day, but from different causes. However, Carey’s statement, “I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” suggests that it was not a sudden event.
Mariah’s relationship with her mother and sister was, as is true of many families, highly complex. In her 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” she delved into the nuances of these relationships. Patricia, 87, who was previously married to Alfred Roy Carey, was a Juilliard-trained opera singer and vocal coach before the couple welcomed Alison, Mariah and son Morgan. The parents later divorced when Mariah was 3 years old.
In her memoir, Mariah Carey who was born in Huntington, Long Island, wrote, “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.”
In flowery language, she added that, “Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment.” Mariah continued in the book, “A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother’s.”
Despite its contentious nature they maintained the relationship over the years. In 2010, they came together for ABC’s Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You special and performed a duet of “O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus.” Mariah also dedicated her memoir in part to Patricia. “And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could,” she wrote. “I will love you the best I can, always.”
Her relationship with her sister Alison was no smoother. The star wrote in the memoir that it was, at least at the time, “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact” with her or her brother, Morgan. Details of what was at the origin of the conflicts are not clear, but Mariah’s biography alludes to a difficult childhood.
Mariah thanked her many fans saying, “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
