Aaron Carter’s sister reveals why 'DWTS' felt like a second chance for the pop star: 'He was really...'
Aaron Carter's siblings were always cheering for him! In the Paramount+ documentary 'The Carters: Hurts to Love You', which was released earlier this month on April 15, Aaron's twin sister, Angel Carter Conrad, shed light on one particular opportunity that she felt could help him heal and get his life back on track: 'Dancing With The Stars'. According to People magazine, at that time, Angel shared, "When Aaron joined Dancing with the Stars in 2009, we were all so excited for him. He was really excited, and I knew that he was going to be amazing because he was an incredible dancer. We all looked at it as this opportunity for Aaron to hopefully change his life and do something better."
Back in the day, the 'Clarissa Explains It All' actress Melissa Joan Hart was one of the contestants who appeared on that season with Aaron. Before this, Hart had worked with Aaron and his older brother, Nick Carter, well-known for being a member of the boy band Backstreet Boys, and she was excited to reconnect with him again. "To see him on the set of Sabrina [the Teenage Witch] as this little boy who was goofy and silly and loving life and loved hamming it up for the camera and then to see him on DWTS and now he’s older and you can see he’s in his head ...," Hart shared in the documentary.
For the unversed, let us share with you, Aaron competed on Season 9 of 'Dancing With The Stars' alongside his professional partner Karina Smirnoff. Aaron ended his run in the ABC dance competition in fifth place. Elsewhere in the documentary, Hart explained, "I feel like at this point he was past the pop star phase, but I feel like there was this gap in transitioning, like we do from child to adult, and trying to figure out who you are as an adult. Are you an adult actor, are you a pop star still? Can you be a pop star still? Where do you fit? You could just see that he was trying so hard. He seemed really vulnerable.”
At that point, Aaron's siblings were worried about him as he continued to battle his addiction. When the Carters were filming for their 2006 reality series 'House of Carters,' Aaron's siblings expressed their concerns about him. "I remember the last day that we had finished, we were all sitting in the living room and [older brother Nick] sat us all down and said, ‘Who wants to go to therapy? I’ll pay for it.’ And I was the only one who said I would go," Angel stated.
When one of the producers asked Angel, “Do you think it’s one of the main reasons that you and Nick are still here?" she responded by saying, "I do. I think it is the reason we are still here because we got help. After House of Carters, Aaron was already deep in his drug addiction. Marijuana was a major issue for him, probably the first addiction he had. He explored taking ecstasy at a young age, huffing duster cans, and you know, Xanax was a big problem for him. We were privately trying to help him.”
Aaron passed away at the age of 34 on November 5, 2022, from accidental drowning, which was the result of inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax. Nick paid a tribute to his youngest sibling on Instagram: "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. 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. I will miss my brother more than anyone will ever know. I love you Chizz. Now you can finally have the peace you could never find here on earth….God, please take care of my baby brother."
