Mariah Carey is mourning the death of her mother Patricia and her sister Alison. The 55-year-old singer says both of them passed away on the same day over the weekend. By time of writing, no official cause of death for Alison or Patricia has been confirmed.
“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” said Carey in an official statement to People. “Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.” She went on, “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.”
Mariah Carey announces the death of both her sister Alison and her mom Patricia on the same day over the weekend
Carey is the youngest of three children born to Patricia, who was an opera singer and vocal coach. Carey’s father, an aeronautical engineer, was of African-American and Afro-Venezuelan descent, and Patricia’s family disowned her when they got married. Eventually, the couple divorced, and Patricia worked multiple jobs to support her little family. Patricia’s background inspired Carey, who spent her childhood very lonely, to sing starting at the age of three.
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However, the relationship between mother and daughter had been famously fraught throughout Carey’s life.
“Like many aspects of my life, my journey with my mother has been full of contradictions and competing realities,” shared Carey in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey. “It’s never been only black-and-white — it’s been a whole rainbow of emotions.”
A family with history
Despite all this, Carey dedicated her memoir to her mom. “And to Pat, my mother,” she wrote, “who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could. I will love you the best I can, always.”
Similarly, her relationship with Alison—as well as with Morgan—was also complicated, reports People. In fact, in her memoir, Carey wrote that it was “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact.”
Although Carey’s relationship with Alison appears to have remained complex over the years, she and her mother also connected in another way: through singing. In 2010, the two performed a duet of “O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus” as part of ABC’s holiday special, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You.
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