From being offered cocaine & ‘pimped out’ by sister aged 12 to sick arson attacks – Mariah Carey’s traumatic family life
WHEN Mariah Carey’s mum and sister both died this weekend the pop legend had to be careful in wording her tribute.
While the record-breaking 55-year-old American hitmaker stated that her “heart is broken” following the loss of her 87-year-old mum Patricia, she simply said “in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day”.
Even though Mariah was once taken into psychiatric care following a blistering row with Patricia, she was by her side during her final week.
But the scars from growing up with her older, heroin-addicted sister Alison, 63, went far deeper.
In her explosive memoirs four years ago Mariah claimed that Alison gave her the sedative valium when she was aged 12, tried to “pimp” her out and gave her “third degree burns.”.
Alison responded by telling The Sun that she was the one who’d been put in the hands of men by their mum when she was little.
Her cause of death has not yet been revealed, but a friend said that the mother-of-four “had a problem with internal organs” and was in “home hospice care for the last three weeks of her life.”
Former sex worker Alison was diagnosed with HIV in 1990 and suffered a brain injury in a “home invasion” in 2015.
Mariah claimed in her autobiography that she had to get away from both her sister and brother Morgan, 64, for her own safety.
They sued for defamation over a series of claims made by the singer, who is best known for All I Want for Christmas Is You.
Her main issue with her mum seemed to be one of jealousy over Mariah’s global success which has spanned almost four decades.
But in a statement on Monday night, the five-time Grammy award winner said: “My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend.
“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed.”
The problems started before Mariah was born in New York in 1969.
Patricia’s family disowned her for marrying black aeronautical engineer Alfred, while racist neighbours set fire to their car and poisoned their dog.
By the time Mariah was aged three the constant rows were so toxic that her parents split up.
She said: “It was not uncommon for holes to be punched in walls or for other objects to go flying.”
Mariah and Morgan went to live with their mum, while Alison stayed with their dad.
But even with Alfred gone the violent atmosphere did not diminish.
When she was aged six the police were called to the family home after Patricia was assaulted.
One of the officers commented about Mariah “if this kid survives it will be a miracle.”
‘Drugged & offered to pimp’
According to the singer a greater risk came from hanging out with her sister.
In her memoir she claimed: “When I was 12 years old, 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.”
The pimp was Alison’s boyfriend who had a handgun and put his arm around Mariah at a drive-in movie before someone spotted what he was up to, she claimed.
Her main chance of escape came through her incredible musical talents.
By the age of 13 she was writing her songs and three years later created her first demo tape.
Having given up her dreams of becoming an opera star to start a family, Patricia seemed to resent being overshadowed by her daughter.
Sitting in the car aged 14, her mum said to the fledgling singer “you should only hope that one day you become half the singer I am.”
Those words wounded the singer for decades to come with her commenting in 2020 “to this day, what she said haunts me and hurts me.”
She certainly proved her mum wrong.
In 1990 her debut album titled Mariah Carey spent 11 weeks on top of the US charts and she scored a top ten UK single with Vision of Love.
Over the next few decades she built up a £400 million fortune by producing one hit album after another.
Heroin addiction
Her glamorous lifestyle, travelling on private jets, living in mansions and being cooked for by personal chefs was a world away from what her sister was experiencing.
Around the age of 16 Alison had become a sex worker and was on to her first marriage.
She later developed a serious heroin addiction, which is believed to be the reason she contracted HIV.
Alison often slept in cars or lived in hostels for the homeless, claiming she received no financial support from her sister.
She probably spends more on dog food than it would cost to make sure her sister gets properly cared for
All was not as well as it seemed for Mariah in 2001.
With an album and movie both titled Glitter proving to be a flop and her record label offering to pay her out of a lucrative deal, her mental health spiralled out of control.
A three year-long relationship with singer Luis Miguel also came to an end and in July she couldn’t take the relentless work pressures anymore.
The way Mariah tells it, she went to her mum’s home in the hope of getting some peace and quiet.
Instead, Patricia took the side of the record label.
Mariah said: “That night, I did not have a breakdown. I was broken down by the very people who were supposed to keep me whole.”
According to press reports at the time Patricia called the police because Mariah attempted suicide.
But the singer denied making an attempt on her own life and said her mum had called the police after they’d had a row.
Mariah Carey's heartbreaking statement
On August 26, 2024, Mariah Carey revealed to People that her mom Patricia and sister Alison died on the same day.
“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” she started.
“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.”
“I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time,” she concluded.
Mariah was placed in psychiatric care for a week and later sought the help of a therapist.
Through those sessions, she came to believe her family were the source of her anguish.
From then on she called her mum Pat, Alison “my ex-sister” and Morgan “my ex-brother.”
In her autobiography she claimed twelve police officers had been needed to break up a fight between Morgan and their father.
She also suggested that he’d tried to get money from her in an unpleasant way.
Morgan, who became a music producer, denied the claims and sued Mariah for defaming his reputation.
There were less issues with her father Alfred, who she’d seen at weekends during her childhood.
After he died from cancer in 2002 she wrote a song called Sunflowers for Alfred Roy, which contained the lyrics “please be at peace father, I’m at peace with you.”
‘Treated like an ATM’
There were no warm words of reconciliation when Alison ended up in hospital in 2016 needing brain and spine surgery.
That left Morgan fuming.
He said: “She probably spends more on dog food than it would cost to make sure her sister gets properly cared for.
“Alison has desperately reached out to Mariah over and over again. We never hear back.”
But Mariah’s representatives claimed that the singer had given “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to Alison and her family over the years.
The self-made millionaire has also spoken of feeling tired of being treated like an “ATM” by family members.
In 2020 Alison told The Sun her own troubles began in childhood when she was abused by members of a church.
Earlier that year she’d filed a lawsuit against Patricia, claiming that her mum had “encouraged other male persons” to perform sex acts with her when she was aged ten.
Whatever the truth of the Careys’ childhood, there is little doubt that it was a chaotic and tragic one.
It is also clear that Mariah got her life back on track following her therapy.
In 2005 her single We Belong Together got to number two in the UK charts and in 2008 her album E=MC2 reached number three here.
Then in 2011 she had twins, Monroe and Moroccan, 13, with her second husband Nick Cannon.
Mariah, who divorced Nick in 2016, has a massive arena tour coming up in November.
And perhaps with time she can find the same peace for her sister, as she did with her mother.