Mariah Carey has shared her devastation following the deaths of her mother, Patricia, and sister, Alison, over the weekend.
The Hero singer issued a statement to People magazine on Sunday evening, which read: “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 continued: “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.”
The Grammy winner shared no further information, including her mum and sister’s causes of death, in her statement to People.
Over the course of her time in the spotlight, the record-breaking singer has spoken candidly about her “complicated” relationships with members of her family, including in her 2020 autobiography The Meaning Of Mariah, which was partly dedicated to her mother.
“Like many aspects of my life, my journey with my mother has been full of contradictions and competing realities,” she explained in her memoir.
“It’s never been only black-and-white — it’s been a whole rainbow of emotions. 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.”
Patricia had previously been a trained opera singer and vocal coach, who duetted with her daughter in her 2010 special Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You.
Of her sister, Mariah also wrote in 2020 that it was “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact” with her.
