Mariah Carey’s Mom & Sister Die on Same Day After Rocky Pasts With Superstar

Heavy/Getty Mariah Carey

Music superstar and former “American Idol” judge Mariah Carey is “heartbroken” over the deaths of her mom Patricia, a former opera singer, and her sister Alison Carey, she told People on August 26, 2024.

In a statement provided to multiple outlets, including TMZ and People, Mariah shared, “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.”

“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” Mariah continued. “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”

Though details surrounding Patricia’s death have not been disclosed, the Times-Union has reported that Alison died at her home in Coxsackie, New York, at age 63, after being in hospice care for an undisclosed illness. Mariah wrote and spoke about her challenging relationships with both women, and her sister sued Mariah in 2020 for defamation.

Mariah Carey Had a ‘Complicated Relationship With Her Mom But Said She’d ‘Always Take Care of Her’

No other details about either death were given, People reported.

According to TMZ, Mariah and her mom had a complicated relationship that she described as a “prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment” in her 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey.”

Even so, Mariah dedicated her 2020 book in part to her mom. According to The Independent, she wrote at the book’s beginning, “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.”

In October 2020, Mariah told Andy Cohen on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” that she had not yet heard from her mom since the book’s publication.

“When she decides, if she decides, to read it, I hope she feels okay about it,” Mariah said. “Certain things about her that I’ve always, always acknowledged: her talent as an opera singer, and the fact that she encouraged me to believe in myself.”

“I don’t agree with everything she’s done with her life,” she continued. “I don’t necessarily understand it. But, you know, I’ll always take care of her, I still take care of her to this day, and yeah, it’s difficult to talk about that stuff.”

Alison Carey Once Said Her Famous Sister Mariah Carey ‘Never Tried’ to Help Her

Meanwhile, Carey was long estranged from her sister Alison. The Sun reported in 2018 that Alison had been diagnosed with HIV and had battled a drug addiction since her 20s, but she told the outlet she’d been clean for two years at that time.

Hudson Valley News Network reported in 2016 that Alison was nine months clean following a decade of heroin addiction, and interviewed her after she participated in a community 5k event. She spoke about a recent violent intrusion at her apartment that left her without a home, all of her belongings and and with a traumatic brain injury.

“I’m sure a lot of people just don’t believe that something like that could happen to Mariah Carey’s sister,” she told HVNN. “It’s hard to imagine and I’ll tell you what: I would never let someone that I had ever loved be in a position where they could be sleeping in the street and I’d never tried to help them in any way. I can’t even imagine it and don’t think anyone else can either.”

Alison told The Sun that she had undergone two surgeries after the break-in, including one in which most of her teeth were removed.

“None of my family help me out – not for the teeth or for groceries or anything,” she told the outlet.

In 2020, she sued Mariah for writing in her book that Alison had abused her when they were growing up, according to TMZ, which reported that her lawsuit highlighted Mariah’s claims that when she was 12, Alison “gave her Valium, tried to pimp her out and threw a cup of boiling hot tea on her causing third-degree burns.”

A longtime “friend and advocate” of Alison’s, David Baker, told the Times-Union, that her death was related to “organ function” and that she had been in hospice care.

“We knew it was coming,” he said. “There were signs that she couldn’t go any further.”

Baker said that before her death, Alison was able to see her children, whom she hadn’t seen in years.

““She was thrilled to see them,” he said.