Mariah Carey's Relationship With Her Estranged Dad Shaped Part of Who She Became as an Artist

On Aug. 26, 2024, Mariah Carey confirmed the passing of both her mother and her sister on the same day. After her fans were shocked by the news, some began to wonder about Mariah's other family members, namely her father. So, what happened to Mariah Carey's dad? She speaks a lot about him in her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

In Mariah's memoir, she discusses the struggle of growing up with a white mother and a Black father from Venezuela and the issues she faced when her parents split and she was pulled in two different directions. While her relationship with her dad isn't the focal point of the book, Mariah is open about their relationship and what happened with him.

Mariah's parents, Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Carey, divorced when she was just three years old. As a result, Mariah didn't develop a deep relationship with her father. And, in her memoir, she explains that she had a hard time at first admitting to her biracial identity, particularly her father's side of the family and her culture in that way.

She also opens up about her feather's home, which sometimes felt like military barracks given Alfred's past in the military, and where the rules were much more hard and fast that Mariah was used to as a kid.

Mariah's dad died of cancer in 2002. However, despite the fractured relationship they had for much of Mariah's childhood and into adulthood, she reconnected with him before his death.

And since then, Mariah has often shared social media posts in honor of her late father. In October 2022, she posted a photo of herself in a red convertible on Instagram with the caption, "Happy Birthday to you my Father Alfred Roy Carey. The car you never got to finish is lovingly restored, complete with your spirit and my children. Sorry I never told you, all I wanted to say."

Mariah is the youngest of three. Her sister, Alison Carey, who died after being in hospice care for some time, was 63 at the time of her passing. Mariah's older brother Morgan Carey turned 64 in 2024. But Mariah's relationship with her siblings was as complicated as the one she had with her dad.

In her memoir, she explains how she and her brother primarily lived with their mom growing up, while older sister Alison opted to live with their dad. In 1993, Mariah told People, "Everybody wishes they had The Brady Bunch family, but it's not reality."