AARON CARTER Inside his downfall
Fears intensify for the former child star, who’s long been at odds with family – but repairing his bond with his mother may be a step forward
Walking the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Mondrian Hotel on October 10, Aaron Carter appeared to have put family drama behind him, momentarily at least. Looking sharp in a black tie and checked blazer, Carter stepped out for the 100th episode celebration of the WE network’s reality-TV show Marriage Boot Camp, alongside his ‘date’, mum Jane Carter, his co-star on the ‘family edition’ of the show. “This is the love of my life, right here,” Aaron, who planted a smooch on his mum’s lips, told Entertainment Tonight.
The show of unity from mother and son seems a positive development in the wake of a chaotic couple of months for Carter, 31, whose erratic behaviour sparked fears for his wellbeing. Last month, the singer’s brother, Backstreet Boys’ singer Nick Carter, and his sister, Angel, filed a restraining order against Aaron after he allegedly threatened violence. “We were left with no choice,” announced Nick, 39, whose daughter Saoirse, his second child with wife Lauren, was born on October 2. Aaron hit back, saying he was “appalled” by the claims, telling TMZ he had not seen his brother in four years and doesn’t “ever wish to speak to them again”.
Nonetheless, a couple of days after his niece’s birth, Carter, a prolific tweeter, posted “I wish them the best”, in an all-caps tweet that suggested “maybe we can have a discussion” and ended with “white flag waved”. For Carter, who found fame with his 2000 pop hit, ‘I Want Candy’, the public stoush with his brother capped off a tumultuous month, in which he claimed his late sister, Leslie, and two backup dancers had sexually abused him when he was a child, and went public with his mental health struggles and drug addiction on US TV show The Doctors. “The official diagnosis is that I suffer from multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety; I’m manic depressive,” said Carter, who also reveals on a preview of Marriage Boot Camp: The Family Edition, that he blamed himself for Leslie’s 2012 death from a drug overdose aged 25, and the 2017 death of his father, Robert, after a heart attack. He tells the show’s doctors, “I felt like I had been responsible for the death of my sister, for the death of my dad, for my family falling apart.”
One of six siblings, Carter, who was 9 when he signed a record deal, has a history of conflict with family members. As a teenager, in 2003, he reportedly accused his mother of taking around $150,000 from his account. When Aaron was 20, his father told WHO he too was being accused of helping himself to his son’s account, a claim he denied, saying: “I don’t live off Aaron’s money.”
Whether Carter’s public show of affection with his mother, Jane – whom he’d previously accused of “drinking a whole bottle of vodka” daily – marks a turning point remains to be seen. Promoting their reality show on the red carpet on October 10, Carter shed light on the facial tattoo he debuted last month, explaining that it represents his mum. “Medusa is my protector. If you want to come at me with some negativity, my Medusa will stare you in the eye and turn you into stone,” said Carter, a day after tweeting that he’s moving to “a castle” in Canada. Asked about his falling out with his brother, Jane spoke for her son: “Aaron loves his family very much,” she declared, “that’s where his heart is at.”
“I felt ... responsible for the death of my sister” — Aaron Carter