Nick Carter Shares How He Found Out Brother Aaron Carter Died in ‘The Carters’

Nick Carter is opening up about the death of younger brother Aaron Carter and sharing why he still hasn’t “had a chance to grieve.”

After years of struggling with addiction and living life in the public eye, Aaron Carter, a former teen pop idol, was found dead in his bathtub in November 2022 at the age of 34, a source close to the family confirmed to NBC News at the time.

Months later, NBC News obtained records from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner in April 2023 that confirmed Aaron Carter’s cause of death was accidental drowning after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax.

Following his death, Nick Carter paid tribute to his youngest sibling on Instagram, writing that his heart was “broken.”

In the new Paramount+ documentary “The Carters: Hurts To Love You,” out April 15, the Backstreet Boys member and his only remaining sibling, Angel Carter Conrad — Aaron Carter’s twin — reflect on the singer’s tragic death. 

The two-part documentary, which unpacks the trauma the Carter siblings endured since childhood, includes a scene of Nick Carter explaining how he learned that Aaron Carter had died. 

“I’ll never forget, you know, being in London at the time when it happened and getting the text message,” he recalled as he began to sob. “It’s still unbelievable to this day.”

He added, “I haven’t even had a chance to grieve.”

The documentary also addresses the death of Leslie Carter, who died in 2012 at the age of 25, and the death of Bobbie Jean “B.J.” Carter, who died about a year after Aaron Carter in December 2023 at 41.

There is an emotional moment where Nick Carter and Carter Conrad walk along a beach and discuss breaking the “generational cycle” that their three siblings could not escape. 

“I’m so thankful I have you, because there’s only one person who understands what we went through,” Carter Conrad tells her older brother. 

He replies, “We’re the only ones left.”

The two then sit down together and Nick Carter says, “The generational cycle, I want it to stop. I want to break it so badly and I don’t want it to affect my children. I don’t want it to affect your children.”

He continues, “Our parents (Robert “Bob” Carter and Jane Elizabeth Carter) don’t define us. I know that. You know that. Unfortunately, B.J., Aaron and Leslie, they did not know that. They had no idea that they could get out. They didn’t deserve it.” 

Nick Carter stresses that his three deceased siblings did not deserve to live devastating lives and suffer until they died. 

“Sometimes I feel guilty about that. Sometimes I feel like it was my fault, you know, because I started it all,” he reveals, noting that his success with the Backstreet Boys took him away from the family. 

He mentions that Aaron Carter then became the center of the family and Carter Conrad was “abandoned.” Nick Carter remembers seeing his siblings struggle while he was away with the band and unable to help.  

“You guys weren’t even 18 years old. You couldn’t escape. You couldn’t get out of there,” he tells Carter Conrad. “There was so many times I tried to intervene. There was a lot of times.”

Now when he looks at family photos, he says, he sees all the members who are no longer living, including dad Bob Carter, who died in May 2017. 

“The oldest and the littlest, we’re all that’s left. I’m proud of you and I’m proud to be your brother. I am proud of my baby sister,” Nick Carter adds. 

Carter Conrad responds, “I’m proud of you,” before the two express their love for each other and embrace. 

“The Carters” director and executive producer Soleil Moon Frye spoke to TODAY.com about filming the heart-to-heart conversation between the siblings.  

“Nick had never shared the process of losing his brother, and it was very clear to me in that moment that he was sharing with his sister, that that was really the first time that he was sharing about the loss of his brother,” Frye said. “To see those walls break down and the emotions… I had been living in the archival where I had seen so much love between these brothers, and then to just watch those walls breaking down, it was devastating to witness.” 

The documentary ends with Nick Carter on stage dedicating a song to his family called “Hurts to Love You” as Carter Conrad looks on from the crowd.