Mariah Carey’s mother Patricia and sister Alison died last weekend, the American singer said in a statement.

“I am heartbroken that I lost my mother this past weekend,” Carey said Monday. “Unfortunately, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.”

The singer said she felt blessed to have been able to spend time with her mother in the week before her death and asked for privacy.

No further details have been released about the cause of death.

Patricia, 87, was a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish-American descent.

In Carey’s 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the five-time Grammy Award-winning singer details her complicated relationship with her mother, saying it “caused me so much pain and confusion.”

Carey said competition developed between the two and that professional jealousy “comes with success, but when that person is your mother and the jealousy comes out at such a young age, it’s extra painful.”

But she also expressed the deep love she felt for her mother, writing in the dedication: “To Pat, my mother, who, despite everything, I believe, actually did the best she could. I will always love you the best I can.”

In a 2022 interview with Gayle King, Carey said the criticism she received from her mother growing up “definitely affected me.”

She added that she has always credited her mother for introducing her to music.

Carey’s relationship with her older sister Alison, 63, was also complex.

In her memoir, she wrote about her and her brother Morgan’s estrangement, saying it was “emotionally and physically safer for me to not have contact anymore.”

Alison sued Carey for $1.2 million (£909,780) after the memoir’s publication, alleging “immense emotional distress” and calling it “vindictive”.

The singer’s father, Alfred, died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 72.

Carey is considered one of the most successful singers in the world.

Her Christmas single “All I Want for Christmas is You” is the best-selling Christmas song by a female artist of all time.

She holds the record for most number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 by a solo artist with 19 songs, has sold over 220 million records worldwide, and has served as a judge on the competition show American Idol.