Angel Carter opened up about dealing with grief after the deaths of her three siblings Aaron, Bobbie Jean and Leslie, who all died of complications from drug addiction.
On the one-year anniversary of Bobbie Jean’s death, the 37-year-old singer became emotional as she discussed her mission to end “generational dysfunction” within her family.
“A few years before Aaron passed away, he said something to me that really stuck with me, and he said, ‘Angel, you just don’t know enough about addiction.’ And it touched my heart, especially after he passed away, because I didn’t [know enough]she told People.
She continued, “Over the last few years I’ve really been trying to educate myself about this disease and how it affects people and how it causes them to do things that maybe they didn’t intend to do.”
This includes finding age-appropriate ways to talk to her five-year-old daughter, whom she shares with husband Corey Conrad, about substance abuse and boundaries.
“That didn’t happen when I was growing up: providing a safe space for her to discipline her and let her have her innocence,” Angel explained. “When I look back on Aaron’s life, and also on me and my sisters, our innocence was taken away from us.”
Angel Carter Conrad spoke about dealing with grief after the deaths of her three siblings Aaron, Bobbie Jean and Leslie, who all died of complications from drug addiction; Angel and Aaron Carter pictured together in 2006
Angel further pointed out that “Aaron being a child star and working in the entertainment industry as an adult” robbed him of a normal childhood.
“I think the most important thing is that my child is protected with her innocence, and that she can grow and learn and try new things and become the person she wants to be one day,” she said.
The performer also revealed that her grief is not “linear.”
“Having suffered so much loss in my life, I know to some extent what to expect, and I want to continue to honor my family. So in those moments on those anniversaries – Aaron and I just had a birthday, we just turned 37 – and I just try to be at peace and in that moment as much as I can and just honor them by talking to them and them to still be present in my life,” she explained.
Angel makes sure her siblings’ memories stay alive by sharing memories of them with her daughter, who “knows who Uncle Aaron is and she knows Aunt Leslie and she knows her Aunt Bobbie Jean.”
She also revealed that Harper and her late twin Aaron’s son, Prince, three, “have play dates” and are close.
“He’s only three years old and he’s already reading and writing and I’m amazed,” she enthused about her nephew.
While speaking about Bobbie Jean, Angel remembered her sisters as “loving, funny.”
Bobbie Jean, like her brother Aaron and sister Leslie, struggled with substance abuse. Leslie died of a drug overdose in 2012 at the age of 25. Leslie (center) died of a drug overdose in 2012 at the age of 25. Aaron died of an accidental drowning from his drug use in November 2022 (pictured in 2006)
On December 23, 2023, Bobbie Jean (pictured in 2006) was found unconscious in the bathroom of her home in Tampa, Florida.
“BJ didn’t ask what happened to her and it wasn’t her fault and she didn’t deserve that,” Angel said of her sister’s tragic death. “I want people to remember her as a person who deserved to be loved.”
Leslie died in 2012 at age 25 from an overdose, Aaron died in 2022 at age 34 from drowning attributed to the effects of Xanax, and difluoroethane inhalation, and Bobbi Jean died in 2023 at age 41 from ‘intoxication due to the combined effects’. of fentanyl and methamphetamine.”
In April, Angel had a candid conversation with Gayle King on CBS Mornings about their chaotic upbringing.
‘My parents were fighting all the time. Just a disturbance in the house. No limits. No stability. No one to talk to. It just felt like if I had a problem, I really couldn’t have my parents to lean on,” she recalled.
When asked if fame exacerbated family problems, Angel replied: “Yes, I do.”
Angel’s brother Nick Carter rose to superstardom as a member of the Backstreet Boys, while Aaron’s career skyrocketed with 2000’s chart-topping hit I Want Candy.
“I think it changed everything, honestly,” Angel added. “Nick has been in Backstreet Boys since I was four or five years old. So really long.
‘We were a family without money. We came from upstate New York. My parents were poor. And they had never seen anything like it before. So once the money came in, the dynamic just changed because money became the driving force.”
Angel also confided to Gayle that for years she had held on to the hope that Aaron would find his way to recovery, although she admitted that she ultimately lost all hope during his final days.
She shared her decision to dismantle this pattern with her own child, aiming to give them a sense of innocence that eluded Aaron all his life.
“Aaron didn’t have his innocence,” she explained. ‘From an early age he worked like an adult. And he just wanted to be home.”
The Carter family is rocked by the untimely deaths of their three siblings in just eleven years (BJ, Leslie and Aaron are pictured in 2006)
On December 23, 2023, Bobbie Jean was found unconscious in the bathroom of her home in Tampa, Florida.
Bobbie Jean — who was the mother of a daughter, Bella, 8 — was on probation for cocaine possession when she died, according to police — but her roommates told them she had not used narcotics since her release.
Her official cause of death is intoxication from the combined effects of fentanyl and methamphetamine according to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner in Florida.
Her death was ruled an accident.
Fans may know Bobbie Jean from her appearance on the reality show House of Carters, which aired in 2006.
She, like her late brother Aaron and late sister Leslie, struggled with substance abuse.
Aaron died from an accidental drowning at his home in Lancaster, California, caused after inhaling difluoroethane and ingesting alprazolam, the generic form of the brand name Xanax. He was 34.