Inside Mariah Carey's Final Moments With Her Mom

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Mariah Carey's tragic real-life story got even sadder in August 2024 when Mariah confirmed that she had suffered the tragic losses of her mother Patricia Carey, and sister, Alison Carey, on the same day. Before the iconic singer asked her beloved fans for privacy, she offered some insight into her state of mind, writing, "I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed," in a statement shared with People. While appearing on CBS News' "This Morning," in 2025, the "Honey" hitmaker admitted that she wasn't quite sure how she got through the devastating time in her life. Likewise, Mariah's complex relationship with her mother also made it harder for the Grammy winner to come to terms with her death. Mariah then elaborated on the final days she spent with Patricia. 

"Towards the end, I was with her the whole time," the "My All" songstress confirmed. "She said a couple of things to me that were very healing for what I needed. And I felt that that was the right thing to do." Mariah similarly opened up about their tumultuous relationship in her 2020 memoir "The Meaning of Mariah Carey." She recalled how her parents divorced when she was three, and her mother subsequently became her primary caregiver. Mariah went on to disclose several painful memories from her childhood, including the time when Patricia, who was an opera singer, told her that her vocal talents couldn't match up to hers following a casual sing-along. Elsewhere, she confessed that her mother barely noticed her while she was drowning at a beach as a 7-year-old and only sobbed afterwards.

In "The Meaning of Mariah Carey," the iconic performer described her relationship with Patricia Carey as "a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration, and disappointment." Throughout her life, the "Fantasy" hitmaker wished to have the kind of mother she saw on TV, someone who wanted to know her and didn't just reach out to her solely with an ulterior motive. However, Mariah ultimately felt she had no choice but to distance herself from Patricia as much as possible. She looked back on the tough decision, reasoning, "Time has shown me there is no benefit in trying to protect people who never tried to protect me." Moreover, the Grammy winner revealed that her therapist had urged her to use different names for her family that didn't describe her relationships with them. 

As a result, she started referring to her mom only as "Pat" and her siblings as her "ex-brother" and "ex-sister." Unsurprisingly, the tragic loss of Mariah's mother and sister didn't help heal the old wounds in her family. Only three days later, the singer had to continue legally defending herself against the defamation lawsuit that her brother, Morgan Carey, had brought against her in 2021. While Mariah's relationship with her siblings remains non-existent to this day, she certainly seems to have a soft corner for her late mother. The legendary singer couldn't help but tear up as she divulged some impactful words Patricia had once shared with her: "Don't say if I make it, say when I make it," (via YouTube).