Years before Mariah Carey passed away, she used her biography to highlight her mother, Patricia Carey.
The “Obsessed” singer addressed the complex relationship she had with her mother in the opening dedication when The Meaning of Mariah Carey was published in September 2020.
And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe truly did the best she could, Mariah, 55, wrote. Always, I shall love you the best I can.
Following the deaths of her mother and sister Alison Carey on Monday, August 26, the Grammy winner declared on the same day she was in mourning.
“My heart is broken that I lost my mother this past weekend,” Mariah told People in a statement. ” Sadly, on the same day my sister passed away, things turned awful. Having spent the last week with my mother before she went makes me blessed. I value everyone’s affection and respect for my privacy during this unearthly period.
The vocalist omitted to add any more specifics. For either woman, a cause of death has not been declared. Alison was 63, and Patricia was 87.
Mariah discussed in her memoir how much she valued her mother as a Juilliard-trained opera singer turned voice instructor. Simultaneously, the singer of “We Belong Together” developed an unhealthy need to make Patricia proud.
She wrote, “I loved her very much and, like most children, I wanted her to be a haven for me.” Still, our narrative is one of beauty and betrayal. Of love and forsaking. Of surviving and giving up something. Not only because of my mother but also because of our complex journey together, I have emancipated myself from bondage countless times. Yet, I think a cloud of melancholy will always hang over me.”
Mariah once thanked her mother for the exposure, inspiration, and “lifelong lessons” she gave when her artistic aspirations came true.
She also learned to build some distance from her mother as they grew to have a relationship she called “a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment.”
“I have reserved some room in my heart and life to hold her — but with boundaries,” Mariah noted in her book. “Building limits with the woman who delivered me is not easy — it is a work in progress.”
On August 26, tragic news surfaced when Maria Carey stated she lost her mother Patricia, and estranged sister Alison on the same day over the weekend. Although the singer has been quite forthcoming about the difficult relationship she had with her family, she revealed in a statement to People that she spent the last week with her mother before she departed.
Fans are remembering Carey’s 2020 memoir “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” which she dedicated to her mother Pat, her ancestors, Roc and Roe, and Pat’s children. “And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe did the best she could,” the brief preamble note for her late mom reads. Always; I will love you the best I can.”
Revelations in the book
Carey’s memoir has 260 references to the word “mother,” and she is really upfront and honest about their complicated relationship. These are a handful of the supposed tales. “I was a small child with hardly many memories of a big brother looking out for me. More often, I felt I had to defend myself from him; occasionally, I would also find myself shielding my mother from him too.