Mariah Carey details ‘rough weeks’ after family death tragedy
Source: Instagram
Mariah Carey has had a “rough couple of weeks” since the deaths of her mother and sister.
The 55-year-old singer announced in August her mother Patricia and sibling Alison had died on the same day, and the Fantasy hit maker has spoken out for the first time since the double loss to thank fans for their supportive messages.
Mariah shared a video on Instagram on Monday (local time) of her rehearsing 2005 song It’s Like That before her concerts in China and Brazil.
“We’ll see you soon, China,” she says in the video.
In the caption, she wrote: “Back at work. It’s been a couple of rough weeks, but I appreciate everyone’s love and support so much and I can’t wait to see my fans in China + Brazil. Love you!”
The Hero singer previously said she was heartbroken following the death of her 87-year-old mother, and Alison’s passing had made the situation even more tragic.
“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. I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” she told People magazine.
“I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
Patricia, who divorced the late Alfred Roy Carey in 1973, was an opera singer and vocal coach before giving birth to her first child, while Alison endured some personal struggles including homelessness throughout her life and had been estranged from her superstar sibling for some years.
Alison had been in hospice care and had hoped to reconcile with her sister before the end came.
“I know it was her dying wish if she could’ve at least had a conversation with Mariah,” her friend David Baker told DailyMail.com.
Carey has previously opened up about her complicated relationship with her mother and described it all as a “rainbow of emotions” in her memoir.
“Like many aspects of my life, my journey with my mother has been full of contradictions and competing realities. It’s never been only black and white – it’s been a whole rainbow of emotions,” she wrote in her 2020 book The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
“Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment.
“A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother’s.”