Mariah Carey has revealed both her mother, Patricia, and her sister, Alison, died on the same day over the weekend. She did not reveal their cause of death.
“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-winner toldPeoplein a short statement.
“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.”
Mariah Carey’s father, Alfred Roy Carey, died in 2002 from a rare form of cancer. Her parents had divorced when she was just three years old.
In a memoir she wrote in 2020, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, she reflected on the challenges that she has with her mother, revealing that their relationship has caused her “so much pain and confusion.”
Carey gave a nod, agreeing with her mother’s talent as a Juilliard-trained opera singer despite the difficulties in their relationship.
The singer credited her mother with introducing her to music. Carey also mentioned that while she was growing up, her mother often told her she “should only hope” to be “half the singer” that Patricia was.
“There was a distinct shift: she made me feel like the competition, like a threat. In place of our previous bond grew a different tie, a rope tethering us through shared biology and social obligation,” Carey writes in the memoir. “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.”
“It definitely had an effect on me,” Carey told King of her mother’s words, adding: “I don’t know that she would even remember that.
“That one statement did live with me for the rest of my life though. You have to be so careful what you say.”
Despite her complicated relationship with her mother, Carey paid tribute to Patricia in the dedication of her book, where shewrote: “And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could. I will love you the best I can, always.”
