Mariah Carey is mourning the loss of two family members, both of whom died on the same day over the weekend.
The singer told People and Billboard that her "heart is broken" after losing her mother Patricia and sister Alison within hours of each other "in a tragic turn of events."
"I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed," she said in a statement to both outlets. "I appreciate everyone's love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time."
Neither cause of death for Patricia nor Alison has been shared at this time.
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Carey was the youngest child of Patricia and Alfred Roy Carey, who died in 2002 of a rare cancer. The couple divorced when Carey was 3 years old, and the musician later explained in her 2020 memoir, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey," that she was then raised predominantly by her mother.
Although the pair shared a love of the arts, as Patricia was a Juilliard-trained opera singer, they also shared a complicated relationship, as did Carey with her two siblings.
In the memoir, Carey wrote, "My mother became Pat to me, Morgan my ex-brother and Alison my ex-sister… I had to stop expecting them to one day miraculously become the mommy, big brother and big sister I fantasized about."
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Still, the musician included her mother on the book's dedication page, writing, "And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could. I will love you the best I can, always."
However, Carey's siblings didn't take her anecdotes lightly, and both Alison and her brother sued her for defamation over them, according to E! News. Alison's suit reportedly alleged that Carey's memoir led her to be diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression. Carey had alleged her sister had drugged her and "tried to sell me out to a pimp."
