Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of death.
Mariah Carey’s sister Alison recently passed away at her home in Coxsackie on the same day as their mother Patricia on August 24. According to Alison’s friends, she had “a tough life,” and her death wasn’t a surprise. However, she was able to see her children on her deathbed and fulfilled her wish of taking her last breath in her own home.
David Baker, who knew the Fantasy singer’s late sister, gave details about her life to PEOPLE. “We saw it coming, but it’s still a shock. She got ill fairly quickly, and a month later, she’s gone,” he told the outlet. Previously, Baker shared on X (formerly Twitter) that Alison entered home hospice care. There were talks of putting her in a nursing home, but Baker helped her find her apartment in Coxsackie, New York, where she lived for three years until her death. “She got her wish,” he says. “She died in her own home.”
He also revealed in another tweet that Alison experienced severe post-traumatic stress disorder in the 1980s “after being forced as a child to witness atrocities during late-night devil worshiping,” claiming that her mother subjected her to the abuse.
Alison was a mother of four— three sons and one daughter. Two or three weeks before her tragic death, her children came to visit her. As for her famous sister, the two had a complicated relationship. Mariah mentioned in her memoir that, at least at the time, it was “emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact” with Alison or their brother Morgan.
On August 26, Mariah expressed her grief in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE. “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,” the Grammy-winning singer said.
She revealed that she felt grateful to have been with her mother in her final moments. “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time,” she added.
