Two of Mariah Carey's Siblings Are Suing Her Because of Her Memoir

No one wins when the family feuds but in the case of Mariah Carey and her estranged brother and sister, two may be walking away with sizeable settlements. On Feb. 2, news broke that Alison is suing Mariah for emotional distress as a result of the release of her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey. In the book, Mariah detailed the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her family. 

Just over a month later, Mariah's brother, Morgan Carey, filed papers for unspecified damages. Like Alison, Morgan believes that he was misrepresented in the memoir. 

Since the controversy between Mariah Carey and her siblings erupted, all eyes have been on the artist and her family history.

Mariah Carey’s diva status may lead some fans to believe that she was an only child, but the singer is actually the youngest of three siblings. Mariah's brother, Morgan, 61, and sister Alison, 59, were both subjects in Mariah's memoir and have both sued the singer for what they believe was a defamation of character. 

In Mariah's book, she wrote that at only 12 years old, her older sister, Alison introduced the singer to a life of drugs, violence, and trauma. She explained, "When I was 12 years old, my sister drugged me with Valium, offered me a pinky nail full of cocaine, inflicted me with third-degree burns, and tried to sell me out to a pimp. Something in me was arrested by all that trauma. That is why I often say, 'I'm eternally 12.' I am still struggling through that time."

In recently released court documents, Alison’s lawyers denied the "Always Be My Baby" singer's accusations and are now suing Mariah for $1.25 million. The report read, "Defendant used her status as a public figure to attack her penniless sister, generating sensational headlines describing her lurid claims to promote sales of her book. Defendant's cruel and outrageous allegations have devastated the plaintiff.”

The document continued, "Already struggling with the unspeakable trauma of her childhood and having her own children abandon her, she has become severely depressed and uncharacteristically tearful since the publication of defendant's book and now struggles, after a long time clean, with alcohol abuse."

Now, Morgan Carey has filed a lawsuit in New York as well, over "defamation and the intentional infliction of emotional distress." He is seeking unspecified damages, and he wants a judge to rule that "many of the passages... are false and defamatory."

In the infamous memoir, Mariah alleged that her brother would often get violent with their father, Alfred Carey. She also claimed that her brother would be abusive toward her mother and that he took an advance in a murder-for-hire. 

In other passages, Mariah alleged that her brother was a "sometimes drug dealer."

Though many first heard about the Carey siblings' estrangement upon the release of the book, the trio has a long past when it comes to their issues.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Mariah revealed that the rift between her and her sister was rooted in their childhood. The singer said that because she and her siblings didn't grow up together, she often felt resentment from her brother and sister. 

Mariah told Oprah, "We don't even really know each other ... we didn't grow up together, but we did. Like, they were on their journeys, by the time I got into the world, they had already been damaged, in my opinion. But again, I wasn't there. I was dropped into this world and I literally felt like an outsider amongst my own family."

It is because of their rocky relationship history that Mariah now refers to her siblings as her ex-brother and ex-sister. She continued, "They just grew up with the experience of living with a Black father and a white mother together as a family and I was for the most part living with my mother, which they saw as easier, but in reality, it was not. They have always thought that my life was easy."

At this time, the singer has yet to publicly comment on either of her siblings' lawsuits.