What Really Happened Inside The Carter Family Behind Closed Doors?

Out of all the tragic Hollywood stories about famous families, none have ended quite as heartbreakingly as the story of the Carters. Their journey stands apart from any other I have ever told. The deeper we look, the darker everything becomes.

This story carries a level of tragedy that touches so many lives lost too soon. At a moment when pop music and boy bands ruled the charts, the Carter family seemed untouchable.

Their family experienced lightning striking not once but twice. Their oldest son joined the Backstreet Boys, and then their youngest son Aaron also rose to become a global pop star. By the year 2000, Jane Carter had two sons shining as pop idols.

“What was it like for you when he became successful?” “When he clicked, it was like lightning striking twice for a family who once believed that so much luck was on their side.”

Years later, time would show that the luck they once felt had quickly faded away. The Carter family included Bob the father, Jane the mother, and their children: Nick, Bobby Jean who also went by BJ, Leslie, and the twins Aaron and Angel.

They were five bright young people full of promise, a family of seven that once stood on top of the world. Today, only three members remain — three lone survivors.

Out of the five siblings, only two are still here. There are now more Carters who have passed away than those still living.

The most painful part, the deepest tragedy of all, is that every single one of those deaths could have been prevented. So what happened to this family that once sat at the peak with luxury cars, boats, houses, and worldwide fame?

They went from incredible wealth and recognition in one breath to working shifts at Applebee’s and asking the public for financial help in the next. This story holds more twists, more ups and downs, than any telenovela ever could.

Troubled stage parents, child stars, arrests, family fights, and more dysfunction than any one household should carry. This is a real story about fame, greed, betrayal, addiction, family ties, and devastating loss. This is the story of the Carters.

“I’m a wonderer of the soul before the end I plan to behold, but I know I lose myself along the way.” “What’s gone is gone and what’s past is past; let me leave what belongs in the past.”

“Follow the voices from below wherever I go; there’s a chain and my own shackles drive me insane.” “Let your body be new.”

How does something like this happen — so many lives cut short? First Leslie, then Aaron, and now BJ.

Many elements led to such deep heartbreak inside this family. One of the last surviving siblings, Aaron’s twin sister Angel, points to one factor above everything else.

“How we got here, it’s been a long road.” “There’s been a lot of trauma within the family, a lot of things that have happened.”

“How did we get to this place? I think addiction has been a major issue in my family.” The Carters’ difficult relationship with addictive substances ran through generations and remained a constant presence.

This formed the background of their childhood, affecting not only the children but their parents too. Their mother Jane recalls alcohol being completely normal where she grew up in a small town.

“I first started drinking in high school; that was the thing to do in the small town where I grew up.” “Everybody did this.”

This kind of normalized behavior followed her into adulthood. As for Bob Carter, his own unhealthy ways of coping also came from his early life.

Nick shared a revealing story about his late father that helps explain why Bob struggled so much. Growing up as an only child, Nick wrote about his dad.

“My father never knew his dad.” “He was adopted by a man with the last name Carter, so my whole life I was trying to find out who our blood last name might really have been.”

“Years went by; I searched tirelessly using all of the different DNA websites and companies that were available.” “Then one day a miracle happened: I found my dad’s half-brother and a close cousin that he never knew he had.”

“I wanted to give you a little peek at this journey of mine because it’s still unfolding, but the truth is I am not a #Carter.” “The only clue I can give you is this: I’m going to watch the #Godfather.”

Clearly, Nick was suggesting that his dad had Italian heritage. Details about Bob’s military service are hard to pin down exactly, but he did serve at some point.

His children have referenced it many times over the years. The assumption is that it happened before he met Jane.

Something particularly striking was claimed by their oldest daughter BJ about that chapter in her father’s life. “My dad was not in the military for 25 years; he was in there for a year.”

“He was kicked out because he was selling drugs, period.” “You really want to know the truth? There you go.”

Even before Jane and Bob met and built a life together, both already carried their own struggles with substances. Eventually their paths crossed, they married in New York City, and started a family.

They owned and worked at a family bar called the Yankee Rebel in Westfield, New York. Eight months after their wedding, they welcomed their first child, Nicholas Gene Carter.

Nick has looked back on those early years and shared what life was like for his parents. In his autobiography, he described their heavy reliance on alcohol.

He felt this environment made drinking seem ordinary during his childhood. Nick remembered a family story about trying alcohol for the first time when he was still crawling, not even walking yet, inside the bar beneath their apartment.

“Family legend has it that when I was two years old, I crawled into one of the Yankee Rebel’s liquor storage rooms where I was caught drinking for the first time.” “My parents always laughed at that; I laughed too for a while, and then I didn’t laugh at it anymore.”

The bar business must not have thrived because by the time Nick turned four, the family moved from New York to Ruskin, Florida. Near Tampa, his parents managed a retirement home.

Money clearly created heavy stress for them during this period. Nick believed his parents’ heavy drinking came from constant money worries.

“My parents always stressed about money, which is another reason why they turned to alcohol so much.” Sadly, this pattern and behavior was something Nick absorbed at a young age.

Nick himself began drinking as a teenager. “I began drinking heavily in my teens and then moved on to drugs at 18 or 19, starting with marijuana and moving up to cocaine, ecstasy, and prescription painkillers, among other substances.”

Remember, even before fame arrived, serious problems already existed inside the family. The adults, Jane and Bob, already struggled to handle life’s pressures in healthy ways.

They turned to drinking to escape while also running a bar. According to Nick, their biggest arguments and worries centered on the family’s lack of money.

You might expect that a few years later, when they hit the music industry jackpot and money stopped being a problem, their troubles would ease. But that did not happen.

We all understand that these unhealthy habits and coping methods are only symptoms of deeper issues. Their problems were never truly about money, even though the parents believed they were.

In just a few years, the fear of not having enough money would vanish once their two sons entered the music world. Yet as their bank accounts grew, so did the fighting, the arguing, and the drinking.

After the move to Florida, the Carter family kept expanding. By the time Nick reached ten years old, he had four younger siblings.

His sister Bobby Jean, known as BJ, arrived when Nick was two. Sister Leslie came four years later. When Nick was eight, fraternal twins Aaron and Angel were born.

Tragedy nearly struck the family early when Aaron was three years old. There was a terrifying moment when he almost drowned in a swimming pool.

Both Jane and Aaron later spoke about that close call. “I drowned in a swimming pool when I was three years old — drowned.”

“My dad resuscitated me and brought me back to life after the EMTs said that I was gone.” “I didn’t know on the way to the hospital if you were going to live or die.”

“I had to drive all the way to the hospital by myself and I prayed the whole way to God: just please let my baby live.” Sadly and tragically, as we will see, the next medical emergency in this family would not end with the same good fortune.

For now, we need to understand what growing up in the Carter home felt like. From every account, it was chaotic, unstable, and filled with dysfunction.

“My parents were repeating a cycle that they grew up in.” “It’s a generational dysfunction issue to sweep things under the rug and to not talk about how you’re feeling.”

“This is something that runs pretty heavily in my family.” “Not only is there a biological basis to it, but there really is a genetic component there.”

“My parents, because of their addiction issues, did not really focus on the children and what we needed, which was freedom to feel safe within the home.” Another important part of feeling safe is having a stable, predictable home where you know what to expect from your parents.

This kind of consistency can create a calm, secure space for children to grow. But that sense of safety was not what the Carter kids experienced.

According to Nick, his father often ruled through fear. Nick described how this atmosphere of fear became an everyday reality in their home.

“It was just the way my household was with my father.” “He was a dominating personality, and I think that’s something that carried over later on in my adulthood as well.”

“You lead by fear, and I don’t agree with that at all; I feel like you have to lead with love.” Fear became normal, just like the chaos and the constant threats that their parents might divorce.

This deeply traumatized the Carter children. “It really started off in Florida with all of us; we had always been living in a very chaotic atmosphere.”

“One day it was a big fight and they would come in the room and be like, ‘We’re going to divorce, who do you want to live with?'” “The next day it was like they didn’t even remember it, but we did.”

“I remember we would go into our rooms and we would kind of just hide in the closet and cry together.” “They would come in and they would ask us, ‘Who do you want to live with? You have to pick right now; we’re divorcing.'”

While constant fighting filled the home, there were also good moments and happy memories mixed in. One day Nick’s mom Jane heard him singing outside and decided to sign him up for voice lessons.

By age ten, Nick attended the Karl and DiMarco School of Theater and Dance. He studied ballet, tap, and hip-hop.

Throughout the late eighties and early nineties, he auditioned for various acting parts. A lesser-known fact is that he appeared in Edward Scissorhands.

“It would be going too far to say I was actually in Edward Scissorhands because I was so far in the background that you can’t tell it’s me.” “It would be better to say that I was on the set of the film.”

“I was in the scene when Edward looks out of a window to the neighborhood.” “For a split second, he sees some kids playing; one of them was me.”

“I was sliding on a yellow piece of plastic we used to call a Slip ‘N Slide.” “It was great fun being on the set, but it was really cold and they made us do it a lot of times.”

Even bigger opportunities waited just two years later. At twelve, Nick recorded several songs and performed them at events around Tampa.

“One my heart I’ll be breaking up hard to do help me and me all through the week.” At age ten, Nick also tried out for the famous Mickey Mouse Club.

This was the era when Britney, Justin, Ryan Gosling, JC Chasez, and others were part of the show. “Nick had gotten an offer to be on the Mickey Mouse Club — a cash offer — and he was 12ish.”

“Had he gone the Mouse Club route, he would have been on the same season as Justin, Ryan Gosling, JC, and Britney and Christina.” “He might have been in *NSYNC if you really think about it.”

“Who knows who would have been our Nick?” “His mom literally gave him the option: ‘Okay, you’ve got this on the table; you’re guaranteed to be a Mouseketeer, or you could take a chance on this vocal group and see where it goes.'”

“It’s a big responsibility to put on a 12-year-old, but I think he picked the right thing.” So what do you think? Did he make the right choice?

All I know is that *NSYNC represents absolute perfection, so perhaps everything unfolded exactly as it was meant to. Before the Backstreet Boys exploded, Nick felt excited about his future.

“We got to go, we waiting so long.” “I hope it will be very successful and, you know, we want to achieve our goals, which is to be known around the world, known around the country.”

The Backstreet Boys achieved massive success almost immediately and became a global phenomenon. At fourteen, thanks to Nick, the Carters began earning more money than they had ever known.

That was not the only change. A new family dynamic emerged.

Nick started feeling the weight of providing for himself and his entire family. “Being the oldest of five kids, I always had a lot of pressure when it came to the siblings.”

“I became the father in a lot of ways at a really young age due to the fact that I was making more money than my father was at the age of 14 or 15.”

The family had been dysfunctional long before fame arrived. BJ explained it clearly: “It’s always been hard even before the fame.”

“I have the most vivid memory; I can remember things from when I was four years old, just watching my parents constantly fighting.” Even amid the arguments over money and the pressure of a child becoming the provider, Nick wanted nothing more than to see his parents happy.

This likely created some very unhealthy boundaries. “I became the provider for my family, and so I did have a sense of responsibility.”

“In a lot of ways it was wrong, but all I really cared about was seeing them have a better life.” After the Carters tasted real fame, everything took a sharp turn for the worse.

This affected every single Carter child. “Growing up with my brother after Nick became famous, it got harder because my parents were so focused on him.”

“They were so focused on making the most out of it and making, like, ‘let’s get this and get this money’ and ‘I want my percentage.'” “I was basically free rein to do what I wanted; I had a car.”

“I was going to school, but there were times — three days out of the week — I didn’t even go and they didn’t ever notice.” Business-wise, the income from Nick’s work with the Backstreet Boys was good, but his parents felt he deserved more.

Both Jane and Bob believed Nick was being taken advantage of. Although the group sold over 55 million albums and filled arenas worldwide, Jane and Bob felt Nick did not receive his fair share.

“I was told that they could not have the parents as managers.” “Without realizing it, they signed a contract limiting their son’s take of the royalties.”

“Was it at that point that you said to yourself, ‘I’m going to make sure this doesn’t happen to my other son?'” “Exactly.”

A new plan took shape, this time centered on Nick’s younger brother Aaron. Jane was determined to manage him and turn him into the next major star.

Is 14-year-old Aaron Carter the next big thing? His mom thinks so. What makes this Florida housewife an expert? She’s already raised one millionaire teen idol.

“This is my brother; brother Nick is one of the Backstreet Boys.” “I’ve taught my kids that they can do whatever they want to do.”

Jane’s next step was Aaron’s first solo performance at age nine, singing The Jets’ “Crush On You” as the opening act for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin in March 1997. Thanks to his big brother’s influence and his own natural talent, Aaron began performing when he was just nine.

Jane refused to repeat the mistakes that had cost Nick. She took full control of Aaron’s career and faced the industry head-on.

“I can’t believe it; how did you do it?” “I listened a lot to a lot of people that knew what they were doing.”

His first self-titled album came out in 1997 and reached gold status in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Canada, and Germany. It was released in the United States in June 1998.

Now with two superstar sons, Bob and Jane dove completely into management. Jane handled the stage side while Bob managed the finances behind the scenes, acting more like an accountant.

This is when real trouble began building inside the family. “I think life would be very different if my parents got to a place where they realized that children need to be children.”

“I think that my brothers were continuously working like adults and their childhood was stripped from them.” With the parents fully engaged as managers, they began neglecting their basic roles as parents to Nick and Aaron.

The girls were pushed aside as well. “I think in the beginning my parents started out wanting to be parents; they wanted to have a family.”

“But then it changed when they started managing.” “They went from parents to managers, and you lost them.” “We lost them, and I don’t really think at this point you can get them back.”

Things shifted dramatically because it seemed the whole family grew more deeply involved with drinking and drugs. “During this time I was probably 15 or 16 when I started smoking weed, then I moved to ecstasy.”

“I tried Vicodin and Oxycodone; I got addicted to those.” “It is definitely easy to fall into drugs especially when you come from a family of drugs and alcohol.”

It was not only Nick. Jane struggled during this period too. “In the ’90s I was really involved in my career and, as the mom of Carter kids, I was the glue that held the family together.”

“At that point it was just a few shots a day, but when I came home from the road I would definitely go out and get a bottle and I’d hide it.” “I would hide it and then I’d go back on the road and go back to work; I was really proud of myself, it worked for quite a while.”

At home, the oldest daughter BJ felt the effects strongly. “I was the one who got to experience more a social school thing and I ended up with the really bad crowd.”

“Because my parents were so focused on them, I was kind of allowed to just do whatever I wanted to.” “I got in trouble; I didn’t do it to try to get their attention, but maybe subconsciously I was.”

“I didn’t go to school hardly at all.” “I would come home so up out of my mind and they wouldn’t even notice; no one really ever noticed me.”

All this turmoil unfolded behind closed doors while the public saw something very different. On the surface, this appeared to be a grounded, fortunate family that had everything together.

“Meet Jane Carter, a typical mom with all the typical mom jobs.” “I’ve taught my kids that they can do whatever they want to do.”

But Jane held one job most mothers do not: she managed Aaron and was determined to make him a superstar. “What’s the best thing about having your mom as your manager?” “That she’s my mom.”

“It’s a lot like taking care of children, taking care of all those people.” “It’s just like supervising a bunch of kids and I’ve done that for years.”

Those words carry heavy irony now. Her own children said many times how neglected they felt.

At the same time, the statement feels accurate in a painful way because she treated the job in much the same way her children were being treated behind the scenes. In just a few short years, Aaron would claim that around $500 million had been lost.

His parents had mismanaged not only his money but his entire career. He later wished he had sought emancipation and broken free when he had the chance.

“If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?” “I would tell you that you should have did it; you should have got emancipated.”

Aaron had the opportunity to escape his parents’ control, but he chose not to. “I had that option and I didn’t do it; I never wanted to abandon you guys.”

Clearly, it became a decision he deeply regretted. One of the few surviving Carter siblings, Angel, once reflected on why her path turned out so differently.

She believes one key reason was that she stayed in school longer than her siblings. “I was in school the longest out of all my siblings.”

“I was in a structured and a disciplined environment longer than the rest of them.” That kind of structure and discipline was never given to her other brothers and sisters.

We already heard from BJ, who barely attended school and often came home under the influence. School was not easy for Nick either.

He described his school years as difficult, noting that he was bullied and beaten up during junior high. Because of those experiences, he left traditional school and switched to homeschooling.

The child who received the least structure and discipline was Aaron. He stopped attending regular school after second grade.

“I started off in regular school and I stopped at about second grade.” “Then from second grade I entered into homeschooling and then I just knocked it all out, did homeschooling as I toured.”

“Of course, obviously I had to get my education.” Have you ever wondered what a normal childhood might have looked like for him?

What Aaron missed was spending time with friends his own age and simply being allowed to be a kid. They were not able to hang out freely, socialize, or learn about life the way most children do.

“I think Aaron imagined being a child and constantly being told, ‘Go on this tour, go do this, and we’ll buy you a boat or a diamond necklace.'” “He just wanted to be home with his friends and to be a kid.”

There was a lot of neglect from the parents, and they failed in many important ways. What Aaron needed more than anything was healthy balance.

All he wanted was to experience a normal, carefree childhood like other kids his age. “I was used from the gecko; they put me into music right as soon as I was like six years old.”

“I just wanted to be home and going to school, and I’m the only one in the family who didn’t even see the day of high school.” “I didn’t see proms, I didn’t see any of that stuff.”

Maybe he grew stronger because of it — maybe. He did not always have to carry the burden of being the main provider, the so-called “cash cow,” as he was once called in such a hurtful way.

“Love you, but I’m not your cash cow anymore.” “That’s what your name used to be: Cash Cow.”

Every single day for Aaron felt like living the same day over and over while earning money for his family. He carried few normal childhood memories.

“I don’t have a lot of memories as a child; it was a lot of repetitious, monotonous things happening.” “It was really hard for me to recollect anything when it’s always the Groundhog Day.”

“I had been touring nonstop since I was like seven years old; I hadn’t taken a break.” “It was almost like ten years that I had not stopped working for my family.”

“My brother was eight years older than me, so no disrespect to my brother, but when Nick was 18 and I was 10, I was kind of just starting to make lots of money.” “I made over $200 million in my career before I even turned 18 years old.”

Aaron had essentially been working for his family for as long as he could remember. His life moved quickly from child performer to pre-teen star to teenager in the spotlight.

Throughout it all, he kept working nonstop. “I started off as a little kid and then I made my transition into a pre-teen, released an album — my second album for my pre-teen years, Aaron’s Party.”

“Then I made my transition into being a teenager, and now I’m just making the transition into being an adult.” This is where the situation became truly heartbreaking.

Early on, once Aaron entered the business, fights between his parents over money became common. “As far as I can remember, the first fight I ever saw them get in, I always was in the middle and I was always trying to stop it.”

“There was a point where it was all cool and even when Nick was in the business, but as soon as I got in it, it got really really messed up.” Tension between Bob and Jane increased, and the drinking grew heavier.

By the time Aaron turned fifteen, his parents’ relationship had reached rock bottom. Along with the fights came more of Jane’s drinking, which she said worsened after learning about Bob’s infidelity.

“My drinking started getting worse when my husband started cheating on me; that’s how I dealt with it.” Bob also looked back on that period and said he had fallen out of love with Jane long before.

He said it happened around the time Aaron and Angel were born. “Do you even care about her?” “I care about her for the mother of my children.”

“You never loved her enough to care that she put me out of love 15 years ago.” “Are you concerned? Are you listening to me?”

“You haven’t loved her for 15 years?” “No.” “Wow.” “You didn’t live what I live, so leave it alone.”

This was an extremely difficult time, and they decided divorce was the best option. The painful part is that they told Aaron about their decision only fifteen minutes before a film crew arrived to shoot an episode of MTV Cribs.

That show was hugely popular at the time, much like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The news devastated Aaron and left him deeply traumatized.

Here he was, showing off this incredible property while his entire world crumbled. “Hey what’s up everybody, I’m Aaron Carter and this is my crib; go check it out.”

“My dad bought four different race boats that were worth millions of dollars.” “We had four tour buses, 15 golf carts, we had over 45 cars, 50 dogs, three yachts over 70 feet, a football field, 15 houses.”

During the separation, it appears Bob stayed at the family compound with the kids while Jane lived elsewhere. There was a moment when Jane believed Bob wanted to reconcile.

She decided to surprise him one night by sneaking back onto the property. Chaos erupted.

“He made me feel that he wanted us to get back together and I was going to surprise him.” “Well she surprised me, okay; she really surprised me.”

Jane had the idea to cover herself with leaves and Aaron spotted her. “I was just like, ‘Angel, Mom’s right behind you.’ She’s like, ‘Stop lying,’ whatever.”

“I said, ‘Guess who’s back? Mommy’s home!'” “And then she’s like, ‘Where’s your father?'”

“I went over to the other house and caught him in bed with the girl in my bed.” The woman in the bed would later become Bob’s wife Ginger, who at that time was his fiancée.

“I said, ‘Honey, it’s time to go.’ And she’s like, ‘Bob, do something!'” Aaron arrived to find broken glass, blood on the door, and screaming.

“Bob’s like, ‘I don’t know what to do, I don’t know, Jane, this isn’t good.'” “I was trying to restrain her and she was a wild woman; she was just ripping up, throwing stuff all over the place.”

“I pinned my mom down in the bed; she kicked me in my face and threw me off of her.” “I ended up throwing a remote control at her.”

Aaron simply wanted the fighting to end, and he was the one who called the police. “And then I got arrested.”

It fell to Aaron to call 911, and officers took Jane into custody. “I wanted it to stop.”

“It was your son who called 911 on you?” “Mhm, Bob told him to.”

After that night, there was no going back. “I had to call the cops on you and bail you out — remember that?” “Yes. Those were not good memories.”

“There were times, yes, I was worrying about myself.” Bob and Jane each went their own way and spiraled in different directions.

“When you guys got the divorce and you guys just decided to do your own thing, you went crazy; y’all went on your own.” “We all did.”

“But that’s the part where I felt like, where’s my parents at?” “I was too caught up in my own nightmare to even pay attention because I was already going through so much turmoil myself.”

No one seemed to truly care about how Aaron was feeling. He was emotionally alone while still under his parents’ control as he tried to navigate this new reality.

He genuinely believed he was the reason for his parents’ divorce. “I think at the time I was too caught up in my own feelings and my own trauma to pay attention to how he felt.”

“But at the end of the marriage with them, they weren’t fighting over me; they were fighting for my money.” Aaron felt completely isolated.

Big brother Nick was often halfway around the world during this period. “The thing is with Nick and I is that we were always pretty much on the other side of the world from each other.”

“So Nick really couldn’t help even if he wanted to.” “It was kind of a battle that I had to pretty much do on my own.”

“When I was about 15 years old, my mother and father were my managers and they were pulling at me left and right.” “Then all of a sudden they divorced, and as a kid I’m like, ‘Okay, where do I go? What do I do?'”

“When I turned 18 years old, I was just kind of standing there on my own trying to figure it out.” When Aaron needed his mother most, she was busy living her own life.

According to Aaron, one particular incident made him decide to leave his mom and live with his dad. “The divorce happens and my mother and my older sister were doing alcohol and guys and stuff like that.”

“I’m in the little guest house, sick for like four or five days, and my mom hadn’t come to check on me at all.” “She didn’t bring you any medicine?” “No, she didn’t even know you were sick.”

“But I promise you, if I had a show the next day, I would have had a Z-Pak and everything.” “Exactly.”

“Later that night, she got you going crazy and going at it and just drinking in the basement and partying with this guy.” “I had an exchange of words with the guy; the guy literally picked me up with one hand by my throat, carried me outside, and threw me.”

“This was the moment that our relationship ended.” “And she doesn’t recall.”

“After my parents’ divorce, I decided to live with my dad when I was about 15.” I wish I could say things improved for Aaron and the rest of the Carter siblings, but unfortunately that was not the case.

To make matters worse, when Aaron turned eighteen, he discovered that all the money he had earned — everything he had worked for — was gone. There was enormous collateral damage to all the Carter children, especially around this time.

The divorce affected every one of them deeply. Aaron was seventeen when he decided to stop having his mom as his manager.

The constant fighting and her drinking had pushed him to his limit. “I don’t talk to her because she’s not like a mother anymore.”

On the road, Jane and Aaron argued constantly, but it was never about normal mother-son issues. It was always about business.

“I would just stop and I would be like, ‘Mom, why can’t we just fight about me being a teenager, me growing up?'” “It was all about money.”

The small amount of family stability they once had disappeared because the home they knew no longer existed. “It was crazy, and then the divorce happened.”

“All this big property that we had, that was like a wonderland, was being taken away and was being sold.” “I moved with my mom for a little bit and then she was going crazy partying with men and I couldn’t see it.”

“So I wanted to go back down to the Keys with my dad.” “Before he had sold the house, we moved up to Orlando.”

At this point, almost all the Carter children had become estranged from their mother. Even though she stopped managing Aaron, she quickly moved on to her next project.

Jane said she was estranged from four of her five children. The “last leaf on the tree” was eighteen-year-old Leslie Carter.

Leslie wanted to become a singer, and yes, her manager was her mother. “Did any part of you say, ‘Oh, not again?'”

“I want to manage; I just don’t want to manage anybody with my last name anymore.” “With Leslie, it’s different because I don’t have that stress of the bad relationship and that’s all behind me now.”

Of course, not everyone felt confident about that. “Leslie, my advice to you would be: don’t let Mom manage you.”

Middle child Leslie hoped to follow in the footsteps of her famous brothers. “Now my skin glows and it shines like blue; I’m pretty without you.”

“I went to the studio when I was like 10 years old and sang my first song; I guess that’s really when I professionally started.” “I did a talent show — only one in my school — and I won second place.”

“Aaron did it too because he was going to the same school as me; he got second place too.” She possessed real talent as a songwriter and a singer.

She hoped her mom could help her reach the same heights as her brothers. At this time, it would still be another year before the family fully understood how poorly Aaron’s career and finances had been handled.

For now, her dreams remained high, and she even appeared on the Shrek soundtrack with her song “Like Wow!”. According to stylists, Leslie did not want to record her first album and felt pressured by Jane.

I’m not sure whether she simply was not ready or if she disliked the musical direction. She definitely loved performing and writing her own music.

Unfortunately, her self-titled album was shelved and never released. “Like Wow!” became her first and only official music release.

The poor girl received a harsh blow when music executives said they did not believe they could make money from her because of her size. Her mother came up with a plan that involved lies and deception.

Jane actually thought this would solve the problem. “Then I started doing my music career and when I got heavier, it didn’t work out.”

“I ended up not being someone that they can make money off of.” “You know what Mom did? Mom sent me away to a fat camp.”

“She told me it was a horseback riding place and when I got there, two big men grabbed me.” “She told me I was going to a summer camp like to go have some fun; I felt like I was totally thrown away.”

Leslie was a true artist, but she felt more comfortable in a group surrounded by people who made her feel safe. Even while trying to build a solo career, she did not want to go it alone.

In her only music video, her boyfriend appeared with her. When she entered the music scene, she eventually formed her own band.

No, this was not a pop group. It leaned more alternative and emo, which seemed to fit her personality more genuinely. “I initially started as a solo project and I wanted to come out as a solo artist.”

“My management at the time auditioned these guys and I grew really close with them.” “I’m like, ‘You know what? It shouldn’t just be about me. It should be about everybody.'”

“I’m Leslie Carter, and this is my band, and we are the Other Half.” Leslie did not naturally fit the bubbly pop image of the era.

Maybe her mother believed that direction would be more commercial because it matched what had worked for her sons. Leslie tried the beach-blonde pop look her brothers had and probably wondered why she was not achieving the same success.

Eventually she dyed her hair black and embraced a grunge style. Leslie was not a dancer, and pop music may not have been the genre that suited her best.

What she truly loved was writing songs that expressed her feelings and connecting with people on an emotional level. “Initially, I had written a few — more than a few — like about 12 or 11 songs with this one guy.”

“But throughout the past two years, we’ve all been writing together.” “It’s really intimate and we get to just write stuff and be creative together.”

“I used to be the girl who tried to save the world, but now there’s nothing left.” While all this unfolded, Aaron was approaching his eighteenth birthday and legal adulthood.

It was also the moment he received the shock of his life. “When I turned 18 years old, I was just kind of standing there on my own trying to figure it out.”

“At that time there was a lot of damage had been done; my parents were fighting each other in the media and it became very difficult.” Aaron expected that when he turned eighteen he would gain access to millions of dollars.

He believed his parents had followed the Coogan Law, which protects a portion of earnings for child performers. “I want to do what Mom and Dad couldn’t do for you, which is watch out for you, not take from you.”

Aaron thought he would have around $20 million waiting. What he discovered was far less.

“Under the Coogan Law, they were supposed to be putting 15% of my money into my Coogan account.” “And I got like $2 million when I turned 18 years old, and I should have had like at least $20 million.”

“And I had $2 million and a $4 million tax lien; it was so crazy to deal with.” It was not exactly penniless, but there was something Aaron did not know at the time.

His account was essentially in the negative because he actually owed around $8 million in back taxes. That is an overwhelming burden for an eighteen-year-old.

Aaron simply wanted to do what he wanted for once. He had planned to step away from the spotlight once he controlled his own money.

He had been working nonstop since he was a small child. While this new reality changed his plans, he still wanted to finally make decisions on his own terms.

He did not want to follow anyone else’s rhythm anymore. “I think that when he turned 18, he got to a place where he was like, ‘I’m never going to let anybody tell me what to do again.'”

Nick tried to step in and help, but Aaron did not want guidance from his brother at that point. “I think Nick only wanted to see me do good and he really tried to take on like a parental role after I turned 18.”

“I resented him for it because I’m like, ‘Where’s Mom and where’s Dad?'” A lot of pressure fell on Nick, and eventually the brothers grew distant.

Aaron’s best option to escape the financial mess his parents left was to take a job in an off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks. “I’m going to show you around the theater and my dressing room.”

“And they garnished my wages and I was completely broke at the time.” “I was doing this off-Broadway show for two years trying to just rebuild my accountability as a performer.”

“I only made $654 a week — 80 bucks a night — and then they garnished that.” “In New York City, I was only making $312 a week.”

While Aaron struggled to rebuild, Leslie faced her own battles. There were still positive developments in her life too.

Although her band the Other Half never reached the heights she hoped for, she found the love of her life in fellow band member Mike Ashton. “This is Mike; he’s from the group the Other Half, and he’s the drummer.”

Mike and Leslie married and welcomed a baby girl named Alyssa. Leslie seemed to feel a strong connection to Canada, where she met her bandmates and lived for a time.

Sometime after giving birth to her daughter, she decided to leave Canada and return to the United States. Her decision may have related to struggles with prescription medications.

Nick had tried several times in the past to help her get clean. “I was starting to try to stay away from her because the things that I was doing and trying to help her with, they weren’t working.”

“When someone’s doing drugs, you try to also protect yourself.” “I love my family like everyone loves their family, but then there comes a point when you really have to ask yourself: are you helping them or hurting them?”

Many family members said Leslie battled mental health issues throughout her life. “Leslie always had some behavioral issues; she was kind of labeled as the ‘bad kid’ in the family.”

“She was bipolar before anybody knew what bipolar was.” “My mother and father were trying to actually get her diagnosed for a bipolar disorder.”

On January 31st, 2012, Leslie was visiting her father. Reports said she fell while taking a shower and began complaining that she did not feel well.

She later fell asleep and never woke up. Leslie was unresponsive and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

She was twenty-five years old, leaving behind a ten-month-old daughter and a husband. Toxicology reports showed she had overdosed on several prescription medications including Zyprexa, Cyclobenzaprine, and Xanax.

Certain life events change a family forever. Sometimes they pull people closer together, and other times they drive them further apart.

For the Carters, Leslie’s death created a massive chaotic divide. It would have lasting, life-altering consequences for years to come.

Leslie’s tragic passing left the family searching for answers. What exactly happened — was this an accident or something intentional?

“Do you believe that her death was intentional at her hand, or do you think it was an accidental overdose?” “It’s really hard; I didn’t know the details that much.”

“She did die in my father’s house, and there was… we really don’t, I really don’t know exactly.” “She was using; that’s one of the reasons you tried to stay away from her at that point, right?” “Exactly.”

It was not only Nick who felt uncertainty. Jane had her own suspicions. “How did she die? We don’t know; it’s very mysterious.”

“I don’t feel like I got the right answers; I feel like it was covered up.” It makes sense why questions lingered because there were reports that her half-sister said Leslie had been depressed earlier that day.

There were also reports that before her death she had been trying to wean herself off medication. This aligns with Aaron’s story about a conversation with Leslie a few days before she passed.

“I had just hit my bonus; I got $10,000 the week before Leslie died.” “I actually had reached out to her two weeks before that and I said, ‘I’m going to get you the money to go to rehab.'”

“She wanted it, and her phone got cut off for two weeks and she got really bad into it.” There was already heavy guilt weighing on the family.

Everyone wondered what they could have done differently to save her. On that day, it was her father Robert who performed CPR on her, but it was unsuccessful.

She was pronounced dead at 4:59 p.m., after the original 911 call at 4:10, about forty minutes earlier.

Bob’s emotions must have been overwhelming, and he was surely devastated. He found his daughter in that condition, tried to revive her, and was present when she passed.

He had to make the difficult phone calls to other family members to tell them the news. The call between Bob and Aaron went something like this.

“My dad calls me and he said, ‘Aaron, I have some really bad news. Leslie died.'” “I hit the floor right as I was walking outside of my apartment; it was just crazy to deal with.”

The call between Bob and Nick did not go smoothly. Bob began blaming Nick for what happened to Leslie. “I actually got the phone call from my father that she had passed.”

“Immediately the conversation turned into not about her death and what had occurred, and more about themselves.” “Then I started to get blamed by the rest of the family; they were blaming me for the death.”

“I felt it was unfair, especially with all the things that I have done and still to this day continue to do.” Bob was not the only one with resentment toward Nick. Aaron felt it too.

Years later, Aaron tweeted: “He paid for my first rehab at Betty Ford Center #coverup, but shut the door in his own sister’s face when she begged him for rehab.” “She overdosed a month later, then he didn’t show up to her funeral.”

“Where were they when I was the only person in my family there for my mom?” Sometimes families fall into toxic cycles that repeat, and that happened here.

Instead of coming together in grief, it created even deeper divides. Nick often took on a parental role both emotionally and financially, and the family tended to blame him when things went wrong.

“When something went wrong between our family, it was always my fault, even if it was somebody else’s fault.” “So I always took that.”

Nick already felt he needed to protect his own mental health and avoid the intensity of the funeral. For his own well-being, he chose not to attend.

“I loved her, no matter what our relationship was.” “When it happened, I was on a shower floor for three hours, torn because I wanted to go so badly to that funeral.”

“But at the same time, knowing that I didn’t want to expose myself to future scarring and hurt, it was really tough for me.” In life, a choice that is right for one person can hurt someone else.

In this case, Nick’s decision to protect himself hurt his sister BJ deeply. “I haven’t spoke to Nick in eight years because I needed him when Leslie died.”

“Aaron was going out of his mind and going psycho; Angel had her husband.” “I had nobody; I needed my big brother and he wasn’t there for me.”

“He wasn’t there for Leslie because he said he couldn’t handle it mentally.” “Do you think any of us could? Do you think I wanted to see my sister cold and dead without anybody to be there to help me up?”

Five years later, tragedy struck the family once more. According to TMZ, on May 16th, 2017, Bob was running errands around the house and spending time in the sun.

He began feeling chest pains and twitching in his arm. Instead of seeking medical help, he chose to go to sleep.

Sadly, he never woke up the next day. Bob Carter passed away at age sixty-five in Florida. The Carter children were devastated.

The family honored Bob’s final wishes to be cremated and have his ashes scattered in the Gulf of Mexico. During the ceremony, they reunited him with Leslie, who had also been cremated.

The family wanted to spread both sets of ashes together. Nick posted on social media: “I am heartbroken to share the news that our father Robert passed away last night.”

“While we learn more about the cause of death and begin the grieving process, we ask that our privacy be respected.” Aaron also posted: “My heart is broken; we so hurt we lost you Papa way too soon.”

“You were never human to me; you were always my real-life superhero.” Aaron took the deaths of his sister and father extremely hard.

Even before those losses, he had faced his own difficulties, and afterward things did not improve. He had periods of sobriety, but he also relapsed many times.

Aaron often spoke about his heavy drinking, but fewer people knew about his huffing addiction. Aaron revealed that Leslie introduced him to it when he was sixteen.

He admitted buying compressed air from stores like Staples and Home Depot to avoid detection. He claimed he had suffered over one hundred seizures from huffing throughout his life.

He wanted to make real changes. The first time Aaron entered rehab was at Betty Ford.

His mother Jane said Aaron called her and asked her to come. “I went and he was in a closet and just huffing; but the thing about Aaron, he never when he was doing that, he always hid it.”

In 2019, he revealed diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and acute anxiety. Five years after his father’s death, he continued struggling with addiction but worked hard to improve.

In November 2021, he welcomed a baby boy named Prince Lyrik Carter with his girlfriend Melanie. Aaron stayed very active on social media at this time and often live-streamed moments from his life.

He and Melanie were sometimes seen arguing on camera. At one point, due to concerns about drugs and domestic issues, the court placed their son Prince in temporary custody.

According to Melanie, this became Aaron’s breaking point. “At the end of 2022, his mental health was not all there.”

“Aaron and I did lose custody of Prince; I think that the real downfall was him losing custody, not knowing what was going to happen.” “Basically Aaron had a manic episode; we had a heated fight and it was lingering on for a few days.”

Aaron faced tremendous uncertainty as he tried to rebuild his career and their relationship. It was a heavy load for anyone, especially someone dealing with mental health challenges.

Aaron insisted he had not relapsed, but a week later during an Instagram live he appeared to be huffing. He denied it publicly at first but eventually admitted it to his manager.

“The huffing thing, that was a pretty good indicator that it was hitting the fan.” “He denied it; I kept pressing the issue and eventually he owned that it had happened.”

“He was stuck in a really deep, very long addiction that he battled his whole life.” “By the time he realized he needed to beat that monster, I think the monster was a little too big.”

Aaron’s management team and addiction counselor planned inpatient treatment in Utah. However, he resisted because he wanted to resolve the custody situation with Prince first.

Things spiraled from there as Aaron canceled shows and missed appointments. His manager was one of the last people to text Aaron before he passed away on November 5th, 2022.

At that time, Aaron felt excited about releasing his new album. On that fateful day, Aaron Carter’s body was found by his housekeeper.

The coroner determined the cause of death was drowning after inhaling difluoroethane and taking Alprazolam. The report indicated Aaron was incapacitated in the bathtub due to the effects of the substances.

“There’s times when I sit by myself and I say to myself, ‘This is unbelievable.'” “I’m still processing the whole situation and trying to make sense of it.”

“Because no matter what he and I had gone through in our lives, we always were able to make amends.” “And now I can’t anymore, and it hurts.”

“Sometimes you push it down because you don’t want to think about it.” Aaron’s ashes were scattered in the same waters of the Florida Keys along with some of Leslie’s ashes.

After so much loss and tragedy, everyone hoped Aaron would be the last Carter sibling to face such a terrible fate. But that was not the case, because life continued to be incredibly difficult for BJ.

BJ’s story echoes those of her siblings in painful ways. She was deeply impacted by her parents’ divorce and struggled with alcohol for most of her adult life.

“BJ is very damaged from the whole divorce; she was really damaged probably worse than everybody else.” “Are you drinking?” “I am.”

“She got a champagne in her bathroom… our bathroom.” “When did you get champagne in your bathroom?”

“I don’t want to be around it. Nobody around you when you’re drunk; everybody doesn’t like you at all when you’re drunk.” “Everyone in this family thinks I’m an alcoholic, but I can really take it or leave it.”

“I just enjoy drinking because it just — if it’s sad to say — it sets my mind free.” “I can be a pretty nasty drunk, but it’s mostly when I’m around you guys.”

“Look at you, you can barely stand.” During the time the siblings filmed House of Carters, BJ dreamed of becoming a chef.

“I am leaving West, as you know, and I’m going to start investigating schools.” “For what?” “For culinary.”

Unfortunately, she never achieved that dream. What she did have was a beautiful daughter named Bella, who was eight years old.

Sadly, Bella’s father passed away, leaving BJ as a single mother trying to survive on her own. She worked as a server at Applebee’s in Florida and faced serious financial hardship.

She created a GoFundMe in 2017 titled “Back on My Feet.” Her fundraiser explained: “June 16th, 2016 my life changed forever. I came home to find my longtime love and Bella’s father had passed away in my home.”

“Rich was an amazing father and the man who was always there for me, always loved me unconditionally.” “He was the primary provider in our household and I come to you all humble and asking for help.”

“I am now going on two months behind on my rent and my car is up for repossession.” “I work as a server at Applebee’s and for those of you who know, especially here in Florida, it can be very seasonal.”

Only $690 was raised through the fundraiser. BJ had several encounters with the law over the years.

One incident in 2002 led to her arrest for battery after she attacked two women she claimed had jumped her sister Angel. The officer noted that she yelled, “This is what happens when you mess with her family!”

BJ was also arrested for DUI in 2003 and again in 2008. Probably the saddest arrest involved retail theft for stealing markers and stickers from Hobby Lobby.

The items totaled $55. Surveillance footage showed her placing markers in her purse and leaving without paying.

Deputies said BJ removed a container and tossed it under a desk. The container held 1.3 grams of white powder and 0.8 grams of purple powder that tested positive for fentanyl.

One month earlier, her mother Jane had been arrested for domestic battery involving a remote control and television volume. Two days before Christmas in 2023, BJ was found unresponsive in her bathroom.

She passed away that same day. The coroner ruled her death an accidental overdose from the combined effects of fentanyl and methamphetamines.

Her sister Angel posted: “You had a great sense of humor and a lively spirit growing up. I was your baby and you were my best friend.” “Life wasn’t fair to you, that I know; sometimes it feels like you didn’t have a shot.”

“I know why Leslie, Aaron, and now you ended up in the circumstances that you did.” “I share that pain we experienced during our childhood and I’m sorry you didn’t have an opportunity for a better life.”

“We all need to break down barriers, reduce stigmas, and cultivate a society where seeking mental health support is met.” Four Carters are gone — three Carter children — and only two remain.

The tragic ending for most of this family never had to happen.