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Mariah Carey says mother, sister died on the same day: 'My heart is broken'

By NICK GARCIA Published Aug 27, 2024 9:25 am

Mariah Carey confirmed that her mother and her sister tragically died on the same day over the weekend.

The singer announced her mom Patricia and sibling Alison Carey's passing in a statement sent to PEOPLE Magazine.

"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. "I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed," the 55-year-old added. "I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time."

Patricia and Alison's cause of death wasn't disclosed.

Patricia was an opera singer and vocal coach. She was previously married to Alfred Roy Carey, with whom she welcomed three children: Alison, Mariah, and Morgan. They divorced when Mariah was three years old.

Mariah's relationship with her mother was complicated.

In her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, she said her journey with Patricia was "full of contradiction and competing realities."

"It's never been only black-and-white—it's been a whole rainbow of emotions," Mariah wrote in her memoir. "Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment."

"A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother's," she added.

Nevertheless, Mariah and Patricia were in touch. In 2010, they performed a mother/daughter duet of O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus in ABC's Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You special.

In her memoir, Mariah also showed having a relationship complex with Alison, at least at the time. She wrote that it was "emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact" with her or Morgan.