Aaron Carter's twin sister Angel watched him struggle with fame, mental health. She hopes 'The Carters' helps 'change the narrative' about her famous family.

The two-part documentary explores the family dynamic as Nick and Aaron Carter navigated pop star fame.

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Angel Carter Conrad has witnessed a lot of tragedy, much of it within her own family. The twin sister of late pop star Aaron Carter and younger sister to Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter, Angel grew up around fame, sudden wealth and addiction, watching it play out from a closer vantage point than most.

Now she’s sharing her experiences in her new two-part documentary The Carters: Hurts to Love You, premiering April 15 on Paramount+.

“I will definitely say it is surreal seeing this play out on a screen,” Angel told Yahoo Entertainment. “But for me, it was really about changing the narrative for my family and allowing people to see the truth on what really happened rather than everyone else telling our story.”

While the headlines about her famous family have been largely negative since Aaron’s erratic behavior played out on social media before his accidental death in 2022, Angel said she wanted the next generation of her family to know that history doesn’t have to repeat itself.

“I really wanted to show the Carter children in this family that good things are going to happen to you, bad things are going to happen to you,” she said, “but it's really how you choose to handle it that's going to be the outcome.”

In the documentary, which is directed by former child star Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster), home videos of the Carters growing up in Florida show the familiar images of family life — kids playing in the backyard, bath time, bickering. In addition to Nick and Aaron, Angel also grew up with two sisters, Leslie and Bobbie Jean.

There’s also a dark side, as Angel, 37, and Nick, 45, who is also featured in the documentary, share how their parents abused alcohol — and sometimes the kids themselves — and pressured Nick and Aaron to put fame and money first.

There are moments when viewers see a young Aaron crying onstage when Nick surprises him with a visit after they haven’t seen each other in months, or when Angel or Aaron’s manager at the time explain how the preteen just wanted to go home and have a break from touring.

Aaron Carter and Nick Carter. (Carter Family Archive/CBS/Paramount+)

While these are obviously painful moments for Angel, she hesitated when asked if she ever wishes that her brothers hadn’t experienced such fame and seen the millions that came with it — money that was ultimately mismanaged by her parents, according to the documentary.

“I think there's two sides to it,” she said. “In a way, I think that music saved my brother Nick. Him being in the Backstreet Boys allowed him to be away from the home. And in a way … music saved my life too, because it opened up these other doors that if we were still in Florida, what would things have looked like for us?”

At one point, as drama swirled around their family, Nick suggested the siblings all move out to Los Angeles to star in a reality show, House of Carters, which aired on E! in 2006.

“That was his way of getting us out of the home, away from our parents and to start a new life,” Angel explained. “So in so many ways, Los Angeles is my heart and soul. Like this city saved my life. This is where my life really began. So I try to look at it as, I'm grateful for the music and what it did as well. But I mean, there's definitely two sides to it, and I'm not sure if my siblings would have the same answer.”

The documentary details Aaron’s mental illness and eventual slide into addiction, as well as the drug-related deaths of sisters Leslie and Bobbie Jean. Their parents, Robert and Jane, eventually divorced, with Robert dying of a heart attack in 2017.

For her part, Angel said that therapy has played a role in saving both her and Nick from the same fate as their siblings.

“I remember that day when Nick offered us all individual therapy and it was such a defining moment because (a) I was willing to go and (b) I remember just sitting around on the couch and none of my siblings raised their hand and said they would go,” she said. “Therapy was a huge part of it.”

Now Angel is working to pay it forward. She and her husband, Corey Conrad, are co-chairs of the Kids Mental Health Foundation.

“How I got started [with the foundation] was after Aaron passed away. It was the second sibling of mine at the time who had died, and Aaron being my twin, there's definitely a different type of connection when you're a twin,” she explained. “So this fire just lit inside of me, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have to do something to change the narrative and to give back.’”

Angel Carter Conrad and Aaron Carter as children. (Carter Family Archive/CBS/Paramount+ )

Family time is also important, and Angel said that connecting with Aaron’s son, Prince, is important for her, Corey and their young daughter, Harper.

“We like to set up playdates and get together, but he's doing great,” she said, saying Aaron’s ex-fiancée Melanie Martin is “doing a good job.” “He's a really smart kid. He's 3 years old, and he's already reading and writing things.”

Looking back at her relationship with her twin brother, Angel shared a moment she wishes she could sometimes return to.

“Just being kids and being free and being able to play together and just not having those worries. You know, I think that in our much younger years, like age 5, 6, 7, we were just these fun kids outside, playing war together,” she said, holding back tears.

“Nick always had a camera and was the director and making us play instruments and sing music together,” Angel continued. “Those are the memories that I like to hold on to before things started to take a turn.”

The Carters: Hurts to Love You premieres April 15 on Paramount+.

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