Mariah Carey is being sued by her older sister, Alison Carey, for "immense emotional distress" and "public humiliation" caused by the star's 2020 memoir – with Alison asking for a minimum of $1.25 million in her lawsuit.

The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, written with Michaela Angela Davis, and published in Autumn 2020, chronicles the multi-award-winning singer's remarkable life journey, and delves into her complicated childhood, including her troubled relationship with her sister. In her legal compliant, Alison has described some of remarks made in the book – which include claims that she gave then-12-year-old Mariah Valium, threw boiling tea at her, and put her at risk of being pimped out – as "cruel and outrageous".

The complaint, which was filed at New York Supreme Court earlier this week, claimed that Mariah used "her status as a public figure to attack her penniless sister, generating sensational headlines describing her lurid claims to promote sales of her book." Alison also alleges that her sister published the memoir without allowing her an opportunity to respond.

"Already struggling with the unspeakable trauma of her childhood and having her own children abandon her, she has become severely depressed and uncharacteristically tearful since the publication of defendant’s book and now struggles, after a long time clean, with alcohol abuse," the suit continues.

The Meaning of Mariah Carey debuted at No.1 on The New York Times' Bestsellers Lister in October 2020 – with Mariah recently expressing hopes to adapt the book into a movie or TV series.