That same day as their mother Patricia, Mariah Carey’s sister Alison passed away.
Before the death of her sister Alison in August 2024, Mariah Carey had a difficult connection with her siblings.
Born to Patricia and Alfred Carey, the younger of three children, the “Obsessed” singer was First welcoming Mariah’s brother Morgan in 1960 and sister Alison in 1963, the former couple had Mariah on March 27, 1969.
Alleging that her sister battled drug addiction and that her brother had engaged in physical conflicts with their parents, Mariah discussed her erratic connection with her siblings in her 2020 biography The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
Mariah revealed in a statement to PEOPLE on Aug. 26 that her mother and sister had passed away on that same day.
“Losing my mother this past weekend breaks my heart. Sadly, in a terrible turn of events, my sister passed away on the same day,” the Grammy-winning singer stated.
Here’s what you need to know about Mariah Carey’s siblings, from their challenging relationship growing up to how Mariah is grieving her sister’s death.
They were raised in Long Island, New York
Mariah was born on Long Island, New York, nine years after Morgan and six years after Alison in 1969. Mariah went on to live mostly with her Irish-American mother when her parents divorced when she was three years old; her father was Afro-Venezuelan.
Mariah joined Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Conversation following the publication of her memoir in 2020, where she shared more about her horrific childhood and how she felt cut off from her siblings growing up.
“We did not grow up together; we do not even fully know one other. Like, they were on their paths; by the time I entered the world, they had already suffered, in my perspective. “But once more, I missed her. I was dropped into this environment and within my own family, I felt like an outsider.
Mariah said she thought her siblings saw her life as “easier” as they grew up with a Black father and White mother while she mostly lived with her mother.
Mariah alleged that her sister struggled with drug addiction
In her memoir, Mariah examined her stormy connection with Alison and noted that her sister was “deeply wounded” but also “the most brilliant and broken person I have ever known.”
She said Alison was profoundly affected when she saw “things a child should never see” before Mariah was born.
“I do know that what she went through destroyed and twisted her girlhood,” the award-winning vocalist said. “She absorbed the whole suffering of a family coming apart; she was completely aware when the family broke up and our parents turned on each other.”
Mariah also said that Alison battled drug addiction and that she had drugs put upon her as a young child.
She claimed in the book “My sister drugged me with Valium, offered me a pinky nail full of cocaine, inflicted me with third-degree burns, and tried to sell me out to a pimp.”
Alison, a mother of two sons, refuted the claims and sued Mariah in February 2021 for $1.25 million, claiming the singer purposefully caused “emotional distress” on her by publishing stories that especially “humiliated” her.
The paper said, ” Already struggling with the unspeakable trauma of her childhood and having her own children abandon her, she has become severely depressed and uncharacteristically tearful since the publication of defendant’s book and now struggles, after a long time clean, with alcohol abuse.”
Mariah claimed that her brother got into fights with her parents when they were growing up
Mariah also described in her memoir her brother’s relationship with Patricia and Alfred, noting that he could sometimes get aggressive.
She related one instance in which Morgan supposedly slammed their mother so forcefully into the wall that she passed out on the floor.
“Suddenly there was a loud, sharp noise, like an actual gunshot,” Mariah penned. “My mother’s body slammed into the wall, producing a loud cracking sound as my brother pushed her with such force.”
Following the publication of her memoir, Morgan sued Mariah for slander.
Morgan sued his younger sister for slander in March 2021, one month after Alison sued Mariah. He claimed Mariah’s book damaged his job prospects and that she misrepresented his behavior. The litigation is still underway.
The complaint said, per USA Today, “Her attempt to falsely characterize plaintiff as equally violent as their father, and her subsequent commentary on police relations with Black people was only the beginning of defendant Mariah Carey’s desperate attempt to vilify plaintiff, play the victim card and curry favor with the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Three months later, Mariah answered Morgan’s lawsuit in a fresh file that she intended to “inspire” people with her brother’s tale instead of denigrating him.
“The story of Ms. Carey’s rise from a dysfunctional and sometimes violent family environment has significant public value, particularly to any young person who may find her/himself caught in similarly harsh and dispiriting circumstances and who can benefit from the inspiration to employ their talents in pursuit of their dreams,” the filing said, Page Six.
Morgan submitted an affidavit to the Manhattan Supreme Court in July 2021 alleging that the nature of Mariah’s song lyrics and popularity made her allegation that she sought to “inspire” others “particularly ironic”.
If she were attempting to inspire, he said, she should have mentioned his overcoming challenges with cerebral palsy, grand mal seizures, and a two-inch leg discrepancy when he was a child.
“This detail is conspicuously absent, thus it is clear that ‘inspiration’ was not on the agenda,” he said. “Mariah’s agenda simply concerned book sales and her image, all at my expense with no regard to the truth or my well-being during this world crisis.”
Morgan lives in Italy with his wife
Based on his 2021 lawsuit, Morgan and his wife Ilaria relocated to Italy in 2012 where they developed two screenplays. He was also writing “a permaculture-based fitness and lifestyle book” at the time the complaint was filed.
But he claimed that Mariah’s “libelous vitriol” hampered his and his wife’s careers as “enthusiastic negotiations” regarding their screenplay were “abruptly and without explanation terminated congruently with Mariah’s malicious global assault on my character and reputation.”
“The public humiliation of Mariah’s baseless and false attacks will permanently color my professional and personal interactions,” he stated.
Alison passed away that day their mother’s birthday.
Mariah said in August 2024 that Alison had passed away on the same day her mother, with whom she also had strained relationships, passed away.
“I feel lucky that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” the singer revealed to PEOPLE in a statement. “I value everyone’s love and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
Not knowing their cause of death at the time, there were no specifics.