How Mariah Carey made peace with her mum after years of a painful, complicated relationship

28 August 2024, 14:40

It's a tragedy beyond compare.

In what she described as a "tragic turn of events", Mariah Carey lost both her mother and her sister on the same day.

Both Mariah's family members died over the weekend before she revealed in a statement sharing the news on Monday 26th August.

"My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend," Carey said in the statement, which is an unimaginable loss.

But at the end of the statement, she revealed: "I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed."

• Mariah Carey says her 'heart is broken' after her mother and sister die on same day
• Watch Mariah Carey pay tribute to George Michael with beautiful version of 'One More Try'
• When Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey sang a duet of 'Chain of Fools' and blew the roof
• Mariah Carey's 10 best songs of all time, ranked

Despite the tragedy she has suffered in losing her mother, Mariah revealed that she and Patricia were on good terms towards the end.

Fans of Mariah's will know that the relationship she had with her mum wasn't always the easiest.

But as the years went on, she found a way to rekindle their mother-daughter relationship, finding peace with her family.

In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the 'Heartbreaker' singer wrote about how her and her mother's strained relationship often caused her "so much pain and confusion".

Patricia - a Juilliard-trained opera singer and vocal coach - was a budding star herself back in her heyday.

Yet there were seemingly tinges of jealously that her daughter had succeeded where she hadn't.

After facing her family trauma head-on in therapy, Mariah was able to reframe their relationship and redefine it.

"For my sanity and peace of mind, my therapist encouraged me to literally rename and reframe my family," she 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.

"Having people you love be jealous of you professionally comes with the territory of success, but when the person is your mother and the jealousy is revealed at such a tender age, it's particularly painful."

Mariah also recalled in her memoir about one particularly painful memory that continued to loom over her throughout her life.

Whilst singing in the car with her mother as a teenager, Patricia allegedly turned to Mariah and sniped: "You should only hope that one day you become half the singer I am."

"Still, to this day, what she said haunts and hurts me,” the 'All I Want For Christmas' singer recalled.

Despite the painful memories and amount of differences they had, Mariah "reserved some room in my heart" for her mum, dedicating her memoir to Patricia as well as her own kids.

"And to Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could,” she wrote. "I will love you the best I can, always."