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Angel -- who lost her siblings Aaron, Leslie, and Bobbi Jean -- opened up about her family's "generational dysfunction," while also revealing she and her late brother's team are releasing a posthumous album featuring Aaron's unreleased music.
Aaron Carter's twin sister, Angel Carter, is opening up about the devastating deaths of three of her siblings.
In an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, Angel, 36, shared why she believes her siblings -- Leslie, Aaron, and Bobbi Jean -- all died so young, and their deaths were all drug-related.
Leslie passed away at 25 in January 2012 from an overdose. Aaron was found dead in November 2022 at 34 after drowning in his bathtub. He drowned after taking alprazolam (Xanax) and inhaled difluoroethane. Bobbi Jean, meanwhile, died at 41 in December 2023 from a drug overdose, specifically intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
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View Story"There were five siblings, three are gone through substance abuse, drug abuse, mental health ... why do you think this happened in your family and to your family?" King asked Angel.
"There's certainly a generational dysfunction issue here that comes along with it, but as far as growing up, there was a time where we were a really close family. There was a lot of love," Angel explained. "But there was a lot of chaos going on at the same time. Just fighting. My parents were just fighting all the time. Just dysfunction in the home. No boundaries. No stability. No one to talk to. It just felt like, if I had an issue going on I really couldn't have my parents to lean on to."
When asked if she believes the family's "fame," including Aaron's singing career and Nick being in the Backstreet Boys, contributed to the "dysfunction" of the family," Angel replied, "I do. I think it changed everything, honestly."
"Nick has been in Backstreet Boys since I was four or five years old. So, a really long time," she recalled. "We were a family that had no money. We were from upstate New York. My parents were poor. And they had never seen anything like this before. So, once the money started coming in, it just changed the dynamic because money became the moving force."
Angel said she decided to share her family's story, specifically her twin brother's, to hopefully "help" others who can "learn" from their story.
King asked Angel if she believed Aaron was "turning things around" before his death following years of struggling with addiction and mental health.
"There was a time for many years where I always had hope," Angel said. "But in the past few years of Aaron's life, I just was waiting for him to snap out of it, and sadly, he never did."
"I did lose hope," she admitted.
Noting that "children's mental health is so important," Angel stressed that she wants to "create a world where mental health is a vital part of every child's upbringing," which is how she's raising her daughter.
"I'm creating a world where there's structure, there's discipline, there's innocence," she told King. "Children need to have their innocence."
"And Aaron did not," she added. "He was working like an adult from a very young age. And he just wanted to be home."
Also during her conversation with King, Angel revealed she and her late brother's team are releasing a posthumous album featuring Aaron's music. The album, called Recovery, is out May 24, and the first single of the same name will drop on Friday.
Proceeds from the album will go to The Kids Mental Health Foundation.
