Mariah Carey has revealed that both her mother Patricia Carey, who was very proud of her Irish roots, and sister Alison died on the same day over the weekend. "My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend. Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day," Mariah said in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Monday.
"I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed," Mariah added. "I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time." Patricia was 87 and Alison was 63.
PEOPLE reported that no other details, including Patricia and Alison's causes of death, are known at this time. Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! Mariah had a complicated relationship with her parents Patricia Carey (née Hickey) and Alfred Roy Carey, as well as her two older siblings, Morgan and Alison. With her mother being white and Irish American and her father being half-Black and half-Venezuelan, Mariah was also subject to racism from early on, sometimes from within her own family.
Indeed, Patricia, whose parents were reportedly from Co Cork, was "disowned" from her family after she married Alfred, a Black man, in 1960. The mother and daughter opened up about their experience dealing with racial discrimination as an interracial family - including having their dog poisoned and having someone shoot their window - in a powerful interview wit.