Mariah Carey has hit back at her brother’s defamation lawsuit, claiming it was in the public interest for her to talk about him in her 2020 memoir.
Mariah’s older brother, Morgan Carey, took legal action against the singer earlier this year after he accused her of writing “malicious falsehoods” about him in her book, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey.”
In the memoir, Mariah recounted a vicious fight between her brother and their father, and claimed he had been institutionalized when he was younger.
The “We Belong Together” hitmaker has now filed papers with the Manhattan Supreme Court, insisting her claims are not defamatory and the book’s message of seeking triumph over adversity is a matter of public interest.
Mariah’s suit will force her brother to seek a higher legal standard to prove defamation, and the singer insists his current lawsuit doesn’t meet the requirements.
Court papers read: “The story of Ms. Carey’s rise from a dysfunctional and sometimes violent family environment has significant public value, particularly to any young person who may find her/himself stuck in similarly harsh and dispiriting circumstances and who can benefit from the inspiration to employ their talents in pursuit of their dreams.”
In Morgan’s original filing, he claimed that, as a result of the publication of the memoir, he has “suffered extreme mental anguish, outrage, severe anxiety about his future and his ability to support himself and his family, harm to his reputation and his earning capacity, embarrassment among his friends and associates, disruption of his personal life and loss of enjoyment of the ordinary pleasures of everyday life.”
