Nick Carter is opening up about the death of his younger brother, Aaron Carter, in candid detail.
The Backstreet Boys singer previously honored his late sibling with a benefit concert and new song in January but has now shared insight into his grief for the very first time. He spoke with ET on Friday and admitted: “It’s definitely been tough for me and my family.”
“It is still something that we are still processing, to this day,” the 43-year-old continued. “I don’t think we will ever really get over it. It’s been a lot for us, and we are finding ways to try and take a really tragic situation in our family and do something with it.”
Aaron Carter was found dead in a bathtub at his Lancaster, California home in November. An autopsy concluded he drowned after ingesting alprazolam, a generic form of Xanax, and a chemical found in cans of compressed air called difluoroethane. He was 34 years old.
Nick Carter had an admittedly “complicated” view of his brother and initially opened up on Instagram about his death. The father of three admitted his “heart is broken” because he had “held on to the hope” that Aaron Carter would “somehow, someday want to walk a healthy path.”
Their fractured relationship had long been made public by “House of Carters,” an E! Channel reality show that saw Nick Carter taunt his younger brother and demand, “You’re gonna respect me,” before seemingly assaulting him for loudly recording music at night.
Left:Abraham Caro Marin/Associated Press; Right: Gilbert Carrasquillo/WireImage/Associated Press
“To my brother: I love u no matter what & if you feel the need to reach for help, I am here and willing to help you get better,” he wrote in 2017 on X, the platform then known as Twitter, before adding: “Family isn’t always easy, [but] we’re all here for you.”
Nick Carter was later accused by multiple women of sexually assaulting them in the 2000s. He responded to one of the lawsuits by stating he was “shocked and saddened” by the allegations and denied any wrongdoing. He provided an update on the matter on Friday.
“Well, obviously there is a legal process happening right now and I can’t get into too many of the details, but what I can say is that I am really happy with the way things are going now,” he told ET, “and once it’s all done I look forward to finally talking about it.”
Nick Carter’s “Who I Am” tour will mark his first solo performance since 2016 and begins in the fall.