Aaron Carter‘s twin sister, Angel, is speaking out about the pop star’s legacy and how she’s honoring him nine months after his death.
Aaron, younger brother of the Backstreet Boys‘ Nick Carter, died following an accidental drowning in November 2022. He was 34.
In the latest issue of People magazine, Angel says of her twin, “He wanted so badly to be happy. He really fought to the end, but he just had too many problems to be fixed. He’d become this person who we no longer recognized. I don’t even think he recognized himself.”
Noting that their childhood was “filled with emotional abuse, dysfunction and addiction,” Angel tells People she believes “the beginning of the end” came following the 2012 death of their sister Leslie from an overdose, compounded by the 2017 death of their father from an apparent heart attack.
“Aaron was already in a bad place [with substance abuse], but it was like a domino effect,” says Angel.
Following their dad’s death, Aaron went to rehab, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder, says Angel. She watched as he deteriorated mentally and physically. “I just kept waiting for him to snap out of it,” says Angel. “But he never did.”
“Aaron dying was the worst possible outcome for all of us. My brother deserves to be here,” she adds.
On July 28, Angel held a memorial service for Aaron and buried his ashes in an LA cemetery. Now she’s working with the children’s mental health organization On Our Sleeves to help children who have mental disorders get the treatment they need.
“Something positive has to come from all this. I refuse to allow Aaron to have died in vain,” she tells People. “I want Aaron’s legacy to be more than those final years of his life.”
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