'It was a nightmare': Aaron Carter's manager claims 'nonstop relentless cyberbullying' broke late singer
LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA: Aaron Carter's manager Taylor Helgeson reveals the late singer struggled with cyberbullying issues. Aaron Carter, 34, was found dead inside the bathtub of his Lancaster home on November 5. He was reportedly surrounded by compressed air cans and pill bottles at the time. Although Helgeson had previously noted that he doesn't believe suicide was ever an option for the 'I Want Candy' singer but believes that his mental health was suffering due to Internet bullies. “It was like a nightmare,” he added.
“It was nonstop. It was so relentless and, yeah, it did a number on him.” The Big Umbrella Management executive says, “I wouldn’t go as far as to blame that entirely [for Carter’s death], but I watched that break him down over a long period of time," reported Page Six. “He never chose his life… I don’t think he was given the same tools that a lot of us are to navigate life in a way that leaves room for us to live sustainable, good lives.”
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Helgeson says the hatred at times surpassed the digital space and recalled the time 'Aaron’s Party' singer was heckled during a live show. “It really affected him," but he did not let it show in his performance but once he was "offstage he was really sad," the manager said. “He wasn’t angry, he was sad.” Helgeson said, the same night Carter went on Twitter to post about his show and would "look at this stuff and it hurt him a lot," adding that he “could not seem to keep himself off” social media. Helgeson said he even offered the singer to handle his social media accounts for him but that would "never happen" because Aaron felt the need to respond to the haters.
“A lot of days, he felt like he had something to prove,” the manager says. “He could just stand in this mess.” Helgeson says he appreciates everyone who sent the late singer a lot of love since h passed but adds the “hard part” is that he still sees “the other stuff.” Amid all the turmoil in the 'House of Carter' alum's life, there has always been speculation about who was actually part of Carter's inner circle, given his public fallout with brother Nick Carter.
Even though the singer didn't get to speak to Nick directly, the Backstreet Boys member was aware that his younger brother had regrets. “I know that they had plans … to get together, to forgive,” the manager says. “I don’t know exactly when, but I know that they wanted to, that was the idea.” He concludes, “[Aaron] said, ‘When the time is right, we will figure this out,’ and that’s the irony, right? ‘The time is right.'”
Nick penned a tribute to his late brother on November 6 and wrote, "Even though my brother and I have had a complicated relationship, my love for him has never ever faded. I have always held onto the hope, that he would somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path and eventually find the help that he so desperately needed. Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss. But the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here.”
