Mariah Carey’s sister had a real rough go of it, no two ways about it.
The Hero singer announced in a statement to People on Monday that in a “tragic turn of events” both her mother Patricia and her older sister Alison died separately on the same day. The day Mimi provided her statement, David Baker, a longtime friend, revealed Alison had been in hospice for three weeks prior to her death. He also said Mariah knew, but didn’t ever reach out. Now, he’s speaking out more about his friend’s “tough life” and estrangement from the My All singer.
Speaking to People on Wednesday about Alison’s passing, David explained:
“We saw it coming, but it’s still a shock. She got ill fairly quickly and a month later, she’s gone.”
Unfortunately, the last time Mariah saw her late sister was either in 1994 or 2002, according to David. Either way, over 20 years.
As we’ve covered in the past, the two had a falling out in ’94 amid Alison’s tough life. She got pregnant with her first child at just 15 years old and because of her lack of work experience, found it difficult to bring home money. So she unfortunately turned to teen prostitution. In 1987, she had her second child, and just one year after that, she tested positive for HIV.
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On top of all that, she also struggled with substance abuse. The late 63-year-old made it known that Mariah had paid for multiple of her rehab stints, but things finally came to a breaking point in 1994. Patricia apparently went to pick up Alison’s son Michael for a weekend visit but ended up taking him in full time and got temporary custody because she felt Alison was an unfit mother.
Years later, Alison returned the favor. She launched a shocking lawsuit against her late mother, claiming she subjected her to sexual assault in satanic rituals when she was just a child. You can read more about that HERE.
As for Mariah, she made it clear in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey that it was “emotionally and physically safer for [her] not to have any contact” with her big sister.
Such heartbreaking stuff. It’s so sad that things had to go that way for the Carey family.
However, just because Alison wasn’t close with her sister and mother doesn’t mean she had no one. David spoke about first meeting his late friend in 2015 after she suffered a traumatic brain injury during a terrifying home invasion, which affected her short-term memory. It was Alison and Mariah’s brother Morgan who reached out in a Facebook support group asking if anyone would be able to go visit and spend some time in the hospital — and David stepped up. He explained:
“I knew when I saw the request that I was the only person anywhere near Albany, New York, so I said, ‘Well, I’m going to go for this.’ They eventually sent me to the hospital and I met Alison.”
And over the past nine years, David said “hardly a day went by” where he and his friend didn’t speak over the phone:
“I saw somebody who needed help and I knew I could do it. She’d tell me that she was so glad I was around. More recently, before she got sick, if I went somewhere for an hour, she’d call and say, ‘When are you coming back?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.’ And then she’d call a second time and say, ‘When are you coming back?’ Because short-term memory was affected by the brain injury.”
He even helped find her Coxsackie apartment in New York three years ago, which was ultimately where she passed away. He told the outlet:
“She got her wish. She died in her own home.”
But before that, David shared that her four kids — three sons and one daughter — visited two to three weeks before her death. And her daughter, who apparently lived close, even began visiting daily.
We’re so glad to hear she was surrounded by loved ones in her final days. She lived such a difficult life. May she and Patricia both rest in peace.
[Images via Mariah Carey/YouTube & Saugerties Police Department]