The Unique Names Mariah Carey Has For Her Estranged Siblings

Mariah Carey has reached a level of success where she can bend the world to what she wants. She reportedly chooses a nocturnal lifestyle, opting to exist in the hours between sunset and sunrise. She bathes in milk. She brings personal lighting crews to radio interviews. But Carey doesn't only use this power to be a total diva; she also uses it to cope with trauma and pain from her past.

Carey refers to the house she shared with ex-husband Tommy Mottola as "Sing Sing," likening her experience there to living in the famous prison. She's since said that she was constantly watched during the marriage, and while the memories of the relationship are still a source of anxiety for the singer, the nickname allows her some distance from the past. In the same vein, she refers to her childhood home on Long Island as "the shack," which she described as a rundown home nestled into a group of nicer ones.

The home was also the site of bad and traumatic memories from her childhood, memories often inflicted by her siblings. Let's take a closer look at their relationship.

Mariah Carey doesn't have much of a relationship with her older brother and sister these days. Carey told Vulture in August 2020 that they have repeatedly gone to tabloids to sell stories about her, and she feels that they see her as an "ATM machine with a wig." She hasn't spoken to her sister Alison since 1994. For these reasons, Carey refers to them as her "ex-brother" and "ex-sister," declining to even say their names, even if she's talking to someone else who happens to share their names. Carey also refers to her mother as "Pat," instead of "Mom."

Carey explained to Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Conversation how this device helps her process the relationships she has with these members of her family, helping to set some boundaries. "I can't go to an ice cream stand looking for hot dogs," the artist explained. "I have to know, like, he's what you get from this person." And while Carey said she has "forgiveness in [her] heart" for them, she explained to Vulture that she doesn't take their name changes lightly. "They have been ruthlessly just heartless in terms of dealing with me as a human being for most of my life," she said. Don't expect Carey to bury this hatchet anytime soon.