- Following the heartbreaking incident, Mariah Carey's intricate bond with her mother faced challenges.
Mariah Carey is currently dealing with a doubly tragic situation: The singer announced that both her mom, Patricia, and her elder sibling, Alison, passed away on the same day over the weekend. The reasons for their demise have yet to be disclosed. Carey expressed gratitude for having spent the past week with her mom before her passing, stating that they had become closer than ever by then. However, their relationship wasn't always smooth, as Carey revealed in her 2020 memoir "The Real Deal of Mariah Carey."
In her book, Carey discussed her complex relationship with her family, with a special focus on her mother, Patricia. She penned, "Like many other aspects of my life, my journey with my ma is brimming with contradictions and shaped by competing truths. It wasn't black and white, but a whole spectrum of feelings." Their relationship was marked by hardships and struggles.
Carey spent most of her childhood under her mother's watchful eye, along with her elder sibling and brother, only seeing her father, Alfred, on weekends. Her parents parted ways when she was just three years old, and their marriage was marred by racism. Patricia, a white opera singer, was disowned by her own mother for marrying Alfred, a black man.
"Our relationship is like walking a tightrope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment," Carey wrote about her relationship with her mother in her book. It seemed that Patricia found it hard to cope with her daughter's fame. She once told Carey that she should consider herself lucky if she ever became half the singer she was.
Carey has severed all ties with her siblings. Therapy helped her accept and handle her challenging family dynamics. She even renamed her family members in her mind, saying, "My mom became Pat, Morning became my ex-brother, Alison my ex-sister. I had to stop expecting them to suddenly transform into the ideal mom, big sis, and big bro."
Despite their highs and lows, Mariah Carey and her mother managed to reconnect and acknowledge each other's talents. In 2010, they even collaborated on a duet for a Christmas album. Carey dedicated her memoir to her mother, penning, "For Pat, my mom, whom I truly believe always did her best. I will love you as best I can."
After revealing the complexities of her relationship with her mother in her 2020 memoir, Carey fondly remembered their collaboration on a Christmas album, singing ♪ Mariah Carey and Patricia Carey ♪ together. Regrettably, their rekindled bond was short-lived, as both Patricia and Mariah's elder sibling, Alison, passed away on the same day last weekend.
