MARIAH Carey will face questioning from lawyers over claims she made in her memoir about her brother Morgan allegedly selling drugs just weeks after the deaths of their mom and sister.
A date has been set for the singer to give a videotaped in-person deposition on January 17 at the law offices of her brother’s legal team in New York, according to court papers obtained by The U.S. Sun.
Morgan filed a lawsuit against his younger sister Mariah back in March 2021 claiming she had written lies about him in her autobiography The Meaning Of Mariah Carey.
Morgan, 64, and Mariah, 55, are not believed to have spoken since 1994 and in the book she calls him her “ex-brother.”
In the bestseller, Mariah alleges her brother had been violent towards her, had sold drugs when he worked in a New York nightclub in the 1980s and implied he had been in prison – all claims Morgan denies.
In one passage in the book, she describes an alleged incident where “12 cops” had to pull apart a violent altercation between Morgan and their father.
“I was a little girl with very few memories of a big brother who protected me,” she wrote.
“More often, I felt I had to protect myself from him, and sometimes I would find myself protecting my mother from him too.”
In another passage she describes Morgan as her “sometimes drug-dealing, been-in-the-system, drunk a** brother,” insinuating he had been in prison.
The lawsuit also references another paragraph in the book where Mariah alleges that Morgan “discreetly supplied the beautiful people with their powdered party favors” when he worked in a hip New York nightclub in the late 1980s, which his lawyers said is “reasonably understood as a reference to cocaine.”
Morgan strongly denied all the claims, alleging in the suit that she had inflicted “emotional distress” on him by printing “false and defamatory, personally invasive and painful” claims about him which had caused “serious damage” to his reputation.
“[Morgan] brings this action more in sorrow and disappointment in his sister’s betrayals and malicious falsehoods than in anger at them,” the lawsuit said.
“He is by no means envious of his sister’s enormous artistic and personal success, has enjoyed his own successes both professional and personal and has always wished her well.”
A judge tossed out most of the lawsuit in February 2022 but did allow two parts to continue, including the claims that Morgan was a drug dealer and the implication he had been prison.
In an affidavit filed in the case in August 2022, Mariah said she stood by her statements “as fully accurate, as stated in my own literary style.”
FAMOUS SOURCES
In the same filing, Mariah said a “well-known photographer,” a “well-known hairdresser,” and their mother told her that Morgan dealt drugs and said it was “inner-circle common knowledge at the time.”
Lawyers for Morgan will now question Mariah at length over the claims in late January in a videotaped deposition under oath, according to the papers filed on Friday in New York.
They have also demanded that the singer provide documents and evidence to back up her claims – including providing the full names and addresses of any individuals involved in the next 20 days.
It is likely lawyers will ask Mariah to name the “well-known hairdresser” and the “well-known photographer” who she claimed told her her brother sold drugs.
FAMILY AT WAR
The latest court papers have been filed just over two months since Mariah and Morgan lost their mother Patricia and their sister Alison on the same day.
Mariah Carey’s sister Alison reveals traumatic childhood in which she was sexually abused and taken to ‘Satanic’ gatherings
Mariah announced both deaths in a statement on August 26, writing that she was “heartbroken” at the loss of her mother who was 87.
“Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day,” she added.
MORGAN’S STATEMENT
Morgan claims that he never heard about the deaths from Mariah, but from his lawyer.
In statement, Morgan’s lawyer Richard Altman told The U.S. Sun: “It is disheartening that Mariah, in order to build herself up to the public in her ‘tell-all book,’ manufactured disparaging facts about her brother Morgan, who is still mourning the deaths of his sister and mother, deaths which he first learned of not from her, but from her lawyer to his.
“What is more disheartening is that Mariah, after significantly harming Morgan through her words, plays the victim.
“In the end, not only will Mariah have to answer questions under oath about how she intentionally harmed her brother, but the public will learn the real truth behind their relationship and who the real victim is.”
Mariah’s sister, Alison, 63, died from multiple organ failure after struggling with drug addiction, HIV, homelessness and being a victim of violence before her death in Coxsackie, upstate New York.
Mariah Carey’s statement
On August 26, 2024, Mariah Carey revealed to People that her mom Patricia and sister Alison died on the same day.
“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” she started.
“Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.
“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed.”
“I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time,” she concluded.
She had also filed a claim against Mariah over the book – a month before Morgan – claiming it contained lies about her “pimping” her little sister out age 12 and giving her valium.
In the court filing, Alison had sought damages of $1.25 million, saying the book contained claims that were “heartless, vicious, vindictive, despicable and totally unnecessary public humiliation.”
In response, lawyers for Mariah filed court papers demanding that Alison submit a detailed complaint “setting forth in detail her claims in this action.”
No other court filings appear to have been made in the case.
Despite the lawsuit, Alison had wanted to reunite with her sister before her death, according to friends.
DYING WISH
David Baker, Alison’s close friend, previously told The U.S. Sun she had died heartbroken that they never reconciled, as that was their father’s dying wish.
He claims he tried to notify Mariah that Alison was receiving end of life hospice care – through family and on X, but Mariah never reached out.
“Mariah has now denied forever the last wish of both her father and her sister,” David told The U.S. Sun.
Mariah did not respond to that allegation when approached by The U.S. Sun in September.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to reps for Morgan and Mariah for comment on the latest court filings.
