One year ago this week, shocking news came when pop star Aaron Carter died at the age of 34. The younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter and the singer behind hit singles like “I Want Candy” was found dead in a bathtub in his home of Lancaster, California on Saturday, November 5, 2022. As the somber anniversary approaches, Nick Carter shared his feelings on the tragic loss of his family member a year later.
It’s been a particularly hard year for the Carter family following the unexpected passing of Aaron Carter. The autopsy report found a mixture of drugs in his system and ruled the death as “accidental,” but his fiancée spoke out about not getting “closure” from ruling earlier this year whilst his mother called for a “real investigation” of the case, citing past death threats toward him. Here are Nick Carter’s most recent comments on the loss:
It’s still unbelievable to me. When I think back and I get to these holidays like Halloween, these are moments and milestones and times where I’ve actually shared those memories with my brother. And with my family. Good times. And even though I’m sharing it with my kids and my family now, there’s times when I sit by myself or I’m in my car and I say to myself, ‘This is unbelievable.’
Aaron Carter was Nick Carter’s only brother and of course a huge loss for the Backstreet Boys member. Prior to Aaron’s death, Nick also lost his sister Leslie Carter in 2012 when she died at the age of 25 after suffering an overdose of several drugs, following a long battle with mental illness and depression. The Carter family’s patriarch Bob Carter also died in 2017 at the age of 65 due to an apparent heart attack.
Nick Carter has suffered a great deal of familial loss in his lifetime at the age of 43. As the singer continued during a recent interview with E! News:
I’m still processing the whole situation and trying to make sense of it. Because no matter what he and I had gone through in our lives, we always were able to make amends, always were able to get back to that place. And now I can’t anymore. You know, it hurts. I’m just still processing the whole thing. And sometimes you push it down because you don’t want to think about it. And then it come out like this. But I’m hoping one day I can make sense of it all.
Back in 2019, Aaron Carter opened up about suffering from various mental health struggles including multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety and manic depression. He shared that he was prescribed "Xanax, Seroquel, gabapentin, hydroxyzine, trazodone, omeprazole" while on an episode of The Doctors (via People). He also owned up to a huffing addiction he’d had since he was 16 that same year. In Carter’s autopsy report, alprazolam, which is the generic form of Xanax, and inhaled compressed difluoroethane were found in his system.
Back in August, Nick Carter shared that the loss has been “tough” for himself and his family before saying it was something they would probably never “really get over.” This holiday season will be his second year celebrating with his family without having his brother around. Enjoying days like Halloween and Christmas, as Carter shared, are particularly hard times for loved ones to process grief, and the loss is still fresh for him.
Despite Carter’s grief, the singer just released a new song called “Made For Us” this week, and it is inspired by his love of ‘80s music. You can listen to it on your preferred music streaming platform now. Here at CinemaBlend, we send our deepest condolences to the Carter family ahead of the anniversary of Aaron Carter’s death this weekend.
