Mariah Carey’s mother and sister both died this past weekend, the singer confirmed in a Monday statement to CBS News.
The 55-year-old singer did not share any information about the circumstances of the deaths, but said her mom, Patricia Carey, and sister, Alison Carey, died on the same day. Their cause of death is not yet known. Carey did not specify when exactly her mother and sister died.
“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” Carey said. “Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day. I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed.”
Carey’s mother was also a singer. Patricia Carey was an opera singer and she recorded with her daughter before her death. Mariah Carey previously told CBS “Sunday Morning” that her mother was the first person to inspire her.
“Well, my mother tells a story,” Carey said. “She said that she was doing ‘Rigoletto,’ and she kept rehearsing one part over and over and over. And then, she messed up. And I said, ‘No, it goes like this,’ and sang it to her.”
Carey said that was when her mother decided, “‘OK, she definitely has a special ear. And let me encourage this.'”
Carey had an estranged relationship with her sister Alison, Variety reported, referencing Carey’s memoir. In it, the singer wrote that it was “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact” with Alison and her brother Morgan.
The Grammy-award winning singer’s father, Alfred Roy Carey, died from cancer in 2002, People previously reported.
