Nick Carter Opens Up About Grief on One-Year Anniversary of Brother Aaron Carter's Death
Nick and Aaron Carter
Nick Carter opened up to E! News about grieving his brother Aaron Carter amid the one-year anniversary of the pop star's death.
"It's still unbelievable to me," shared the Backstreet Boys member about his younger brother's passing. "When I think back and I get to these [memories of] holidays like Halloween…these are moments and milestones and times when I've actually shared those memories with my brother and with my family, good times."
Carter continued, "And even though I'm sharing them with my kids and my family now, there's times when I sit by myself, or if I'm in my car, and I say to myself, 'This is unbelievable.'"
He added, "I'm still processing the whole situation and trying to make sense of it—because it hasn't [made sense]. Because no matter what he and I had gone through in our lives, we always were able to make amends. We always were able to get back to that place and now I can't anymore. It hurts."
Carter then started tearing up on camera and explained, "I'm still processing the whole thing and sometimes you push it down because you don't want to think about it, and then it comes out like this. But I'm hoping that one day I can make sense of it all."
When asked what he was thinking while getting emotional, the boy band member shared, "It's just that, no matter what, he's my brother and I miss him. I love him."
Experiencing this family tragedy also made the singer realize that his priorities lie in being a father to his three children: Odin, 7, Saoirse, 4, and Pearl, 2.
"My children are my everything," said Carter. "If I lost everything—if I wasn't a Backstreet Boy anymore, if I didn't have the opportunity to still perform for people and entertain them—as long as they still had my kids and still had my family, I'd be OK. All this stuff on the outside doesn't matter to me."
Aaron passed away on Nov. 5, 2022 from an accidental drowning after inhaling an aerosol propellant and taking alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax.
Next: Aaron Carter's Sister Invites Fans to Pay Their Respects at His Final Resting Place