Mariah Carey opened the doors of her Los Angeles home to Gayle King for a deeply personal “CBS Mornings” interview on September 24. Fighting through emotion, the Grammy winner spoke candidly about losing both her mother and sister on the same day last year, sharing how grief and healing shaped her as she poured her heart into her new album “Here For It All,” arriving September 26.
“It was extremely difficult for me to navigate, and it was tough because I’ve always had an interesting relationship with my mother,” Carey said. “Going through all that other stuff while making the album” only magnified her pain.
The singer revealed that both her mother and sister died on the same day last year, leaving her heartbroken while she was writing music. “I don’t know how I processed it,” she admitted.
Grieving & Making Peace
Despite the heartbreak, Carey said she found peace in being by her mother’s side in her final days. “It hasn’t been easy, but towards the end, I was with her the whole time,” she shared. “And so I feel better about that, you know, but it was tough.”
She admitted her grief was complicated by distance from her sister Alison, whom she hadn’t seen in years. “My sister had an extremely hard life,” Carey said quietly. “I feel really badly about that as well, but that’s because I tend to have a guilt complex about everything.”
Carey said she was grateful she had the chance to make amends with her mother before she died. “She said a couple of things to me that were very healing for what I needed, and I felt that was the right thing to do.”
A Complicated Family History
Carey has been open about her complicated family history. As per People, in her 2020 memoir “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” she wrote about years of tension with her mother, Patricia, a classically trained opera singer who often left her feeling unsupported.
Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty ImagesShe also spoke about the painful estrangement from her sister Alison, recalling a “broken home” and moments of betrayal. Yet even in sharing those wounds, Carey has continued to show compassion for the difficult life her sister has faced.
Balancing Grief With Creativity
While the conversation was heavy, Carey also shared a lighter moment about reclaiming her mother’s old album. A young fan once brought it for her to sign. “This one girl had my mother’s album, which is here somewhere,” Carey said. “She goes, ‘Can you sign this? It’s very fragile.’ And I said, ‘Yes, it is fragile. May I have it?’”
As she prepares to release “Here For It All,” Carey said music has been both an outlet and a form of healing. The album arrives September 26 and reflects a year of loss, growth, and resilience for the pop icon.
