Ther singer's older sister is suing her for $1.25 million.
Mariah Carey's older sister, Alison Carey, is suing her for intentional infliction of emotional distress over the singer's claims about her sibling in her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, that came out in September 2020.
In court documents obtained by ET, Alison refers to a chapter of the memoir titled "Dandelion Tea," in which Mariah claims that when Alison was 20, she tried to sell her to a pimp when she was 12 years old. Mariah also claims in the book that Alison once threw a cup of boiling tea on her, causing third-degree burns. In the lawsuit, Alison denies the allegations and says Mariah presented no evidence to substantiate them. She is suing the singer for $1.25 million, and is representing herself in the lawsuit. ET has reached out to Mariah for comment.
In the lawsuit, Alison claims Mariah made the "outrageous claims" about her while knowing that she already struggles with trauma from the alleged childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of their mother, Patricia Carey. Alison claims that while she was a pre-teen, Patricia forced her to attend "terrifying middle of the night satanic worship meetings that included ritual sacrifices and sexual activity." She also says she suffered a traumatic brain injury from an attack during a home invasion in 2015 that affects her short-term memory and permanently damaged one of her eyes.
"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," the court documents read. "Defendant's cruel and outrageous allegations have devastated the plaintiff. 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."
"Plaintiff will demand an amount no less than $1.25 million compensation for the infliction of immense emotional distress caused by defendant's heartless, vicious, vindictive, despicable and totally unnecessary public humiliation of defendant's already profoundly damaged older sister," the documents continue.
Meanwhile, in Mariah's memoir, she claimed that she suffered "significant neglect" throughout her childhood, which she largely attributed to her mother. The GRAMMY winner also claimed that Alison contributed to her tumultuous childhood.
"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," she wrote. "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."
Back in September, Mariah discussed her siblings, which includes her older brother, Morgan, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey about her book. She recalled being constantly afraid growing up and said Alison was "troubled and traumatized."
"We don't even really know each other ... we didn't grow up together, but we did," Mariah said. "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."
"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," she continued. "They have always thought that my life was easy."
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