Aaron Carter’s Twin Sister Angel Spent Years in Therapy ‘Preparing’ For His Death: ‘He Knew It’
Aaron Carter’s twin sister, Angel Carter, was already coping with her brother’s death in therapy years before his untimely demise.
The singer, 36, opened up about how she became ready to accept Aaron’s eventual death during an appearance on Taylor Lautner and Tay Lautner’s “The Squeeze” podcast on Wednesday, June 26.
“What’s so interesting about [my sister] Leslie’s passing… she passed away when I was 23, her death completely blindsided me,” Angel shared. “I didn’t see that one coming. When she died, I was already in therapy, preparing for Aaron’s death. I thought he was gonna die.”
Leslie, the third oldest Carter sibling, died from a drug overdose at age 25 in 2012. Aaron passed away at 34 years old in 2022 after an accidental drowning due to the effects of difluoroethane, a gas in air spray cleaners, and alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax. Second oldest Carter sibling Bobbi Jean later died in December 2023 at 41 years old from intoxication of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Angel and oldest sibling Nick Carter are the only surviving children of Robert and Jane Carter.
Angel told Taylor, 32, and Tay, 27, that she “feared” Aaron’s death throughout her “entire twenties.”
“I knew this day was going to come,” she added. “I think he knew it, too.” The mom of one said her brother “could not get out” of his cycle of addiction despite seeking treatment before his death.
“I was the peacemaker in my family, the mediator. Like, ‘Let’s just hug it out. It’s gonna be okay.’ And he didn’t wanna hear that from me,” she continued. “He needed his parents to step up.”
Angel previously got candid about the “generational dysfunction” that led to her three siblings’ deaths.
“As far as growing up, there was a time where we were a really close family. There was a lot of love. But there was a lot of chaos going on at the same time,” she told Gayle King in an April interview on CBS Mornings. “Just fighting. My parents were just fighting all the time. Just dysfunction in the home. No boundaries. No stability. No one to talk to. It just felt like, if I had an issue going on I really couldn’t have my parents to lean on to.”
She added that the family’s fame played into the dysfunction. Nick became a star as a member of the Backstreet Boys, while Aaron’s fame began with his 2000 single “I Want Candy.”
“I think it changed everything, honestly,” Angel continued. “Nick has been in Backstreet Boys since I was four or five years old. So, a really long time. We were a family that had no money. We were from upstate New York. My parents were poor. And they had never seen anything like this before. So, once the money started coming in, it just changed the dynamic because money became the moving force.”
Angel is now dedicated to breaking the cycle while raising her daughter, Harper, with husband Corey Conrad. She also began working with the children’s mental health organization On Our Sleeves after Aaron’s death.
“Children’s mental health is so important, and we want to create a world where mental health is a vital part of every child’s upbringing. And that’s what I’m doing with my daughter, I’m creating a world where there is structure, there is discipline, there is innocence,” she told Gayle, 69. “Children need to have their innocence and Aaron did not. He was working like an adult from a very young age. And he just wanted to be home.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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