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OPRAH Winfrey may have to provide evidence against her showbiz pal Mariah Carey after her company OWN has been subpoenaed by the singer’s brother in his defamation case against her.
Morgan Carey is currently suing Mariah, alleging she lied about him selling drugs in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
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The U.S. Sun obtained court papers, filed in Los Angeles on December 13, which demand that the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) hand over all communications, emails, unedited videos, and documents relating to Mariah, any interviews she has given, and the book.
It states: “Plaintiff Morgan Carey in his lawsuit against Mariah Carey requests that the non-party OWN; The Oprah Winfrey Network LLC produce all documents responsive to these requests… no later than January 16, 2025.”
Mariah has given several TV interviews to Oprah over the years, including to promote The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
In September 2020, Oprah wrote on X, then known as Twitter, “I may not have known the words back then but after 10 interviews together, I now know the FULL meaning of@MariahCarey.
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“On this episode of #TheOprahConversation, the world’s most fascinating star speaks her truth for the first time in her memoir #TheMeaningOfMariahCarey.
“We talk about the real meanings behind her songs, her famous marriages, and the lasting imprint her traumatic childhood has on her own life.”
She also appeared on Oprah’s show in 1999 with her mother, Patricia, where she spoke about her childhood and her relationship with Morgan and Alison.
The latest court paper requests “documents and communications that refer or relate to agreements by, among, or between any of the following: You [OWN], defendant [Mariah Carey], or Micaela Angela Davis, Andrew Cohen, or Tyler Perry.”
It also requests: “Documents and communications that identify services performed by OWN for defendant [Mariah Carey].”
It says the deposition topics will include “the authenticity and source of all documents” and “OWN’s promotion of the book.”
Morgan filed a suit in 2021 alleging that claims Mariah had made in the autobiography were “false and defamatory” and had caused “damage to his reputation.”
‘FALSE ACCUSATIONS’
In the book, Mariah accused Morgan of being violent towards her, of selling cocaine in a New York nightclub in the 1980s, and insinuated he’d been in prison – all claims he says are false.
In one passage, she described him as a “sometimes drug-dealing, been-in-the-system, drunk a** brother.”
She also said he had been involved in a fight with their father, and 12 police officers were needed to pull them apart.
In another section, she wrote how Morgan was known to supply the beautiful people of New York with their “powdered party favors” understood, lawyers claim, to be a reference to cocaine.
A judge dismissed some of the defamation claims in February 2022 but allowed the claim surrounding drugs and the implication Morgan had been in prison to continue.
Mariah stood by her claims in legal papers filed in August of that year, stating that a “well-known” photographer and hairdresser had discussed her brother’s alleged drug dealing with her and that it was “common knowledge” in her circle at the time.
In court papers, Morgan strongly denied the claims and said he had filed the lawsuit more out of “sorrow and disappointment” than anger.
TIME TO TESTIFY
Mariah will have to give a videotaped deposition on the claims made in her book to Morgan’s lawyers on January 17, according to papers filed last month in New York.
She has also been asked to provide names and addresses of people who can support her claims – so it is likely she will have to reveal the identity of the photographer and hairdresser.
It comes just months after Mariah and Morgan, who are believed to have been estranged since 1994, lost their mother Patricia, age 87, and sister Alison, age 63, tragically on the same day in August.
Mariah described herself as “heartbroken” at the double loss, describing it in a statement as a “tragic turn of events.”
She said she was “blessed” to spend the last week with her mother before she passed away.
Alison, who suffered from drug addiction and homelessness and had been a victim of violence, died in upstate New York from organ failure after receiving hospice at-home care.
Previous statement from Morgan Carey’s lawyer
Attorney Ricard A. Altman told The U.S. Sun:
“It is disheartening that Mariah, in order to build herself up to the public in her ‘tell-all book,’ manufactured disparaging facts about her brother.
“Morgan, who is still mourning the deaths of his sister and mother, deaths which he first learned of not from her, but from her lawyer to his.
“What is more disheartening is that Mariah, after significantly harming Morgan through her words, plays the victim.
“In the end, not only will Mariah have to answer questions under oath about how she intentionally harmed her brother, but the public will learn the real truth behind their relationship and who the real victim is.”
Her longtime friend David Baker told The U.S. Sun afterward that he had tried to reach out to Mariah to tell her that Alison was nearing the end of her life so they could try and reconcile.
David said he never received a response from Mariah, and Alison died heartbroken that her sister had never reached out.
Morgan also claimed, through a statement from his lawyer, that Mariah only informed him of the deaths via her attorney to his attorney – after they had both passed away.
He also accused her in the statement, of playing “the victim.”
In New York, subpoenas can be issued in civil cases to order a witness to appear in court or produce documents or evidence related to the case.
The U.S. Sun reached out to reps for Oprah and Mariah for comment.
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