Court dismisses Mariah Carey's brother's defamation suit over her memoir

A New York court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Morgan Carey against his sister, the American pop singer Mariah Carey, ending a case that ran for five years. The suit concerned her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

In the book, Carey described her brother as "sometimes drug dealing" and as someone who had "been in the system", and called him her "ex-brother". Morgan sued in the New York supreme court in 2021. He said she had falsely portrayed him as a violent drug dealer who had been in prison, and denied physically abusing their mother. He said the book had "ruined" him and caused "extreme mental anguish".

Earlier rulings

In 2022, judge Barbara Jaffe threw out 14 of the 16 claims and all claims against the publisher, Macmillan. She nonetheless found that Carey could be liable over the allegation that her brother sold cocaine in the 1980s and had "been in the system". Claims of physical abuse and of accepting money to murder someone could also be defamatory, she said, but Morgan had not shown he suffered damages.

In an amended complaint filed in January, Morgan said production of a film he co-wrote was called off after the memoir came out, which he attributed to a producer's "fear of angering" his sister. He also said he could not find steady work. He sought "in excess of $1.5m" over the film, plus unspecified damages for emotional distress.

The new ruling

Judge Leslie Stroth dismissed the complaint in documents filed on Monday. She found that Morgan had not shown his sister knew her statements were false or recklessly disregarded the truth, which is the standard required in matters of public interest. His belief that she felt "ill will" towards him was "insufficient" proof of actual malice, she wrote.

Carey's lawyer, John Rosenberg, told People magazine that the singer was gratified by the decision. Morgan's attorney Richard Roth told Variety that he would appeal again.

Carey's sister Alison also filed a $1.2m defamation suit in 2021 over the memoir. She did not pursue it and died in 2024, aged 63.