Nick Carter on brother Aaron’s death: ‘Addiction and mental illness the real villain’

LONDON – Reactions to the shocking death of American pop singer Aaron Carter, who died last Saturday at the age of 34, have poured in from his loved ones.

He was found dead in a bathtub at his residence in Lancaster, California, after years of battling substance addictions. No cause of death has been revealed.

His older brother Nick Carter, a member of American vocal group Backstreet Boys, was visually emotional at several points during their concert at The O2 arena in London on Sunday, and was comforted by his bandmates.

The quintet performed the song Breathe from their 2019 album DNA and dedicated it to Aaron Carter. Band member Kevin Richardson said onstage: “He was a part of our family, and we thank you guys for all the love, well wishes and all your support.”

A big screen showed in memoriam images of Carter during a performance of Backstreet Boys’ 2019 single No Place.

With Nick Carter standing beside him in tears, Richardson told the crowd: “We’ve been through highs and lows and ups and downs. We thank you for being with the Backstreet family for 29 years, for all the love.”

He added: “Tonight, we’ve got a little bit of heavy hearts, because we lost one of our family members yesterday. We just wanted to find a moment in our show to recognise him.”

Nick Carter had broken his silence on his brother’s death on Instagram, writing alongside a series of images of the two together in their younger days: “My heart is broken. Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held on to the hope that he would somehow, someday, want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed.”

The 42-year-old continued: “Sometimes, we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness were the real villain here. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know... Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth.”

Aaron Carter’s twin sister, Angel Carter Conrad, also posted several childhood photos of the two, and wrote: “I loved you beyond measure. You will be missed dearly. My funny, sweet Aaron, I have so many memories of you and I, and I promise to cherish them. I know you are at peace now. I will carry you with me until the day I die and get to see you again.”

Carter’s on-off fiancee Melanie Martin, whom he started dating in 2020, also shared her thoughts on the tragedy. The couple have a son, Prince, who will turn one on Nov 22.

In a statement, Martin said: “I love Aaron with all my heart and it’s going to be a journey to raise a son without a father. Please respect the privacy of my family as we come to terms with the loss of someone we love greatly.”

She added: “We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality. Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.”

In his final interview with the No Jumper podcast, uploaded to YouTube last week, Carter revealed that he was in an outpatient treatment programme, but did not elaborate. 

“I take my medicine legally. I take Xanax,” he said. “I take everything legally.”

He told host Adam22 he was “taking care of my mental health, working on my relationship”, although he admitted the last year with Martin was “hellacious”.

“We had some turmoil,” he shared. “We did things, we said things that weren’t true (of) each other in the media. We both learnt a valuable lesson, at least I did. I learnt that that’s not what you do. You don’t do that.”