It’s no secret Aaron Carter struggled with substance abuse and psychological well being points within the years main as much as his tragic dying in 2022. Now, a brand new documentary, titled “The Carters,” exposes intimate, never-before-shared particulars behind the well-known household’s historical past of loss, trauma and heartbreak.
Within the two-part documentary premiering April 15 on Paramount+, Aaron’s twin sister, Angel Carter Conrad – in addition to shut family and friends members – open up in regards to the experiences that led to Aaron’s demise, together with a terrifying second through which an “unhinged” Aaron drove to his brother Nick Carter’s home with a gun in his automotive.
“I could tell that he was already taking drugs again,” Angel mentioned within the documentary. “He was real manic, all over the place and all the same bad habits were happening again.”
Angel recalled a cellphone dialog she had with Aaron, through which he informed her he had been recognized with schizophrenia and bipolar dysfunction.
Throughout that dialog, mentioned Angel, Aaron mentioned he usually had ideas of “killing babies” and Nick’s spouse, Lauren Kitt Carter.
“I was just processing and taking it all in,” Angel mentioned. “I was so stunned by the conversation and so taken back and was processing everything that was happening.”
Angel made the acutely aware resolution to not inform her Backstreet Boys brother for concern that Nick would take motion and, in flip, damage Aaron’s profession.
“I didn’t want to hurt [Aaron],” Angel confessed.
Nevertheless, weeks later, Aaron began to amass a number of weapons, together with shotguns, AK-47s and extra, and showcase them on social media.
“He was so clearly in a very, very dark place and making threats to Angel, to Nick, to me,” Angel’s husband, Corey Conrad, mentioned within the documentary. “Obviously he’s not in his right mind.”
Angel admitted she was “so scared” of what her brother would do, so she finally informed Nick.
In September 2019, Angel and Nick filed a restraining order in opposition to their brother.
“After careful consideration, my sister Angel and I regret that we were required to seek a restraining order against our brother Aaron today,” Nick introduced on X (previously Twitter) on the time.
“In light of Aaron’s increasingly alarming behavior and his recent confession that he harbors thoughts and intentions of killing my pregnant wife and unborn child, we were left with no choice but to take every measure possible to protect ourselves and our family.”
“We love our brother and truly hope he gets the proper treatment he needs before any harm comes to himself or anyone else,” the assertion concluded.
The household felt that “there was no other option.”
“He was not in control of himself at the time,” Corey mentioned.
Regardless of their efforts, the restraining orders made Aaron turn out to be “even more violent,” Corey revealed.
“He drove to [Las] Vegas with a gun in his car, live-streaming to where we knew that he was there driving to Nick’s community,” he recalled.
Aaron’s assistant on the time had the late star’s location through Discover My Telephone and was giving the household reside updates on the place Aaron was.
“Instead of going to Kentucky [where he was scheduled to perform], he’s going toward [Las] Vegas,” Aaron’s longtime supervisor and Carter household good friend, Lori Knight, mentioned. “We get a ping that he’s getting off the exit that Nick’s home is on and then the next ping we get is at some restaurant across the street from the entrance to Nick’s gated community.”
“We literally had this moment, where like, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to kill Nick or Lauren, He’s going to kill somebody. Then, he’s going to kill himself,’” Knight added.
“They had helicopters, they had SWAT. We did not know what he was going to do, what he was going to try,” Corey added.
“It was such a scary time to listen to their voices, to Lauren and Nick,” Knight recalled. “You could hear the terror that they felt in those moments. There was complete chaos going on in the home.”
“[Aaron] sat in the parking lot for 45 minutes and then left, and we tracked him to Kentucky,” she mentioned.
Angel mentioned the final time she noticed her twin brother was within the courtroom when the weapons had been legally taken away.
“He was really angry. He yelled to me, ‘You’re dead to me.’ It was horrible. I didn’t even recognize him. He was too far gone at that point,” she mentioned.
“What we wanted was for Aaron to get help, get healthy,” Corey added. “We were trying to save him in any way we could.”
“Aaron’s mental illness manifested into very dark things,” Lori mentioned. “He did very monstrous things in the last few years of his life. He hurt a lot of people. The people he hurt the most were the people who really loved him and cared about him.”
Angel, who reconnected along with her brother shortly earlier than he died, mentioned the household was in “crisis mode,” the week of his dying.
“He said, ‘You’re the reason why I’m addicted to drugs. It’s your fault,’” Angel recalled Aaron telling her on the time. “He said, ‘You guys always made me the scapegoat.’ I was frustrated that he blamed me and that he wasn’t owning what he was doing.”
That was their final dialog.
Aaron died on Nov. 5, 2022. He drowned in his bathtub, in response to the Los Angeles County Division of Medical Examiner-Coroner. The “effects of difluoroethane (aerosol propellant found in spray cans) and alprazolam (commonly known as Xanax)” had been listed as contributing elements in his dying.
The way of dying was dominated an “accident,” in response to the coroner.
“I’ll never forget being in London and getting the text message,” an emotional Nick mentioned within the documentary. “It’s still unbelievable to this day. I haven’t had a chance to grieve.”
With the documentary, the household hopes to unfold consciousness about psychological sickness, particularly amongst kids.
Angel and Nick haven’t solely been grieving the lack of Aaron, however their two different siblings, in addition to their father.
Leslie Carter died of a drug overdose in 2012, Bobbie Jean died of a fentanyl overdose in 2023 and their father, Robert Gene Carter, died in 2017.
“We have to do something. This cannot just be swept under the rug,” Angel mentioned within the documentary. “How do we stop this? We stop this by speaking out about it. I just think there’s a life lesson within this. To take something so tragic and turn it into something positive, which is exactly what Aaron would want.”
“Aaron loved people,” she added. “He loved being there for people and showing up for people. I want people to remember that part of him.”
Regardless of the tragedy, Angel – who’s an activist for the nonprofit Children Psychological Well being Basis (previously On Our Sleeves), an initiative of Nationwide Youngsters’s Hospital, to lift consciousness of the significance of youngsters’s psychological well being – stays targeted on what issues most: household.
“I don’t ever want to not feel the pain and the sadness that I feel for my siblings, because at this point, that’s how I connect with them,” she mentioned. “I don’t want to ever not cry for them because they’re not forgotten. They’re remembered. They deserve that.”
The 2-part documentary, titled “The Carters,” premieres April 15 on Paramount+.
