Mariah Carey’s Sister Arrested and Media Leads With Her HIV Status

The 55-year old sister of Mariah Carey, Alison A. Carey, was arrested last Friday in Saugerties, New York, on "prostitution charges," reports the Daily Freeman. In response to her HIV status, local police have urged anyone who’s had sexual contact with her to "see a doctor." 

It didn’t take long for publications like US Magazine and the Daily Mail to highlight Alison’s HIV status with titles like “Mariah Carey’s HIV-Positive Sister Arrested for Prostitution” and “Mariah Carey’s dying, HIV positive sister arrested for prostitution…”

Even if you publish antiquated terms like "prostitute" (with or without her acknowledgement of sex work), there's little reason to report her HIV status to the media.

According to the police, Carey had advertised her services online. After local police received a tip, they sent an undercover cop to act as a customer. As soon as the exchange of money began, she was arrested. 

It’s unclear whether Carey engaged in condomless sex, disclosed to her sexual partners, or had an undetectable viral load from antiretroviral therapy (making it so HIV transmission is nearly impossible), but apparently those details weren't crucial enough to highlight in reports. 

According to media reports, Carey has allegedly worked as a sex worker since the 1980s, and has had one arrest on prostitution charges in Long Island, NY, in 2005.

For decades, the media has portrayed her as the antithesis of Mariah’s perfect prom queen image. Some publications have made a mockery of their family estrangement.

When Alison Carey was on a ventilator, Mariah refused to help with finances, according to her brother Morgan Carey. After Carey was out of the hospital, he told the Sun that his sister still needed help: “Now she needs brain and spinal surgery and will be going into the hospital any day. Alison has desperately reached out to Mariah over and over again. We never hear back.”

Morgan also went so far as to call Mariah an "evil witch." At the end of her rope, Carey made a YouTube video begging for Mariah to help her: “Mariah, I love you. I desperately need your help. Please don’t abandon me like this.”

According to media reports, Mariah, who is reported to be one of the richest women in the world, has to this day not given much of a helping hand to her family, Meanwhile, her sister, like many women living with HIV, is saddled with stigma and lack of resources. Carey will appear in court for her charges on Tuesday, August 30.