An event of heartbreaking proportions has occurred in the life of the legendary songstress Mariah Carey. Over this past weekend, she lost both her mother and her sister, Allison, on the same day—a twist of fate that, it scarcely seems possible, hits hard enough to fell the most storied musical career. Mariah, who has won more Grammy Awards (5) than any other female artist, took to social media with the news on Monday. And while “in shock” seems far too mellow for the way one might feel when confronted with a turn of events like this one, a description like that conveys the truth for fans and even members of the media when it comes to processing Mariah’s latest life chapter.

In the 2020 holiday season, an opera singer who was trained at Juilliard invited Mariah Carey to share the stage with her for a Christmas special. The invitation itself was a nice, if surprising, gesture and perhaps even a statement of the bond the two women have had over the years. Carey’s relationship with her mother has sometimes been a very rocky one, long marked by a lack of understanding on both sides. But at least on the outside, the two have always seemed to reconcile their differences—as Patricia even sometimes reconciles with the differences between her mother and herself—if only for the sake of Christmas.

The relatives seemed to be doing everything possible to make money off of the singer—selling stories to tabloids and pushing the singer toward the financial edge. Now that Mariah’s mother has passed away and her sister has followed suit, the singer is left with a lot of grief and even more questions about her family. Will she encounter peace eventually, or will this pain just push her to a more negative place with her already estranged family? Despite her mother’s passing, Mariah still seems to be in the family feud spotlight.