A “heartbroken” Mariah Carey announced Monday that her mother, Patricia, died over the weekend.
In a “tragic turn of events,” Carey said, her sister, Alison, died the same day. Carey, 55, offered no details about the circumstances of either woman’s death.
“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” Carey said in a statement. “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
Carey had a complicated relationship with her family, which she detailed in her 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey.”
Her mother, a former opera singer, was included in the book’s dedication page.
“And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could,” Carey wrote. “I will love you the best I can, always.”
Carey told Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” in 2020 that the book is about not fame but “emancipating” the little girl she was. She added that she did not agree with everything her mother did in her life but that she loved her.
“I feel like it’s a survivor’s story, and not everybody realized that about me,” Carey said.
In her memoir, Carey said she was raised predominantly by her mother after her parents divorced when she was 3. E! News reported that Carey wrote in her book that she and her mother grew close over a shared love of art but that the two had tough moments.
