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By Bonginkosi Tiwane

Digital Journalist


Mariah Carey loses mother and sister on the same day amid frosty relations

In her memoir, the singer said her relationship with her mother had brought her 'so much pain and confusion'.


Award-winning US singer Mariah Carey is mourning the death of her mother and sister who died on the same day over the weekend.

“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” said the All I Want For Christmas Is You singer on Monday.

“Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.”

Carey said she felt blessed to have spent time with her mother in the week before her death and asked for privacy.

“I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”

No details about the cause of death for Carey’s mother, 87-year-old Patricia.

According to reports the singer’s sister, 63-year-old Alison Carey had been receiving hospice care before her death. According to a friend quoted by the Times Union, a newspaper in New York State. The cause of her death was also not revealed.

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Frosty relations

In her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey released in 2020, the singer said her relationship with her mother had brought her “so much pain and confusion”.

Carey’s mother was a singer in her own right and a vocal coach. She shared that the complication in their relationship stemmed from the jealousy that came with Cary’s success.

“[It] 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,” she said in the book.

“Like many aspects of my life, my journey with my mother has been full of contradictions and competing realities. It’s never been only black-and-white – it’s been a whole rainbow of emotions.”

Carey also wrote: “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.”

In the same book, the singer opened up about the sibling rivalry between her and Alison. Carey said it was “emotionally and physically safer for me to not have any contact” with Alison and brother Morgan.

Alison sued her successful sister for more than R17 million after the release of the book.

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