Aaron Carter “distanced himself from everyone” prior to his tragic death, according to O-Town lead singer Erik-Michael Estrada.
Estrada reflected on his relationship with the late pop star in a new interview, explaining that he felt Carter was “gone” long before he physically died on Nov. 5 at the age of 34.
“The sad part is with Aaron is that he had been gone for quite some time, right? Like, even though he was still here, he wasn’t,” Estrada, 43, explained in Wednesday’s episode of the “Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef” podcast.
“He had distanced himself from everyone, and he made it very clear that he didn’t want anything to do with a lot of people who really cared about him.”
Estrada and Carter both came up during the boy band era and were even once managed by the same company. The “All or Nothing” vocalist said he and the “Aaron’s Party” crooner “grew close” over the years.
“But he had demons, and he had issues that he was dealing with, and maybe some trauma, and obviously some mental illness,” Estrada shared. “And when you meet someone like that … there were moments where you felt really distant from him. And those were sad.”
The “Liquid Dreams” hitmaker reflected on trying to get through to the troubled star during one particularly tumultuous time in the latter’s life.
“I remember having a conversation with him in a bathroom stall … and I’m like, ‘Dude, your talent is so much better than the tweets that you’re putting out, and I just want people to appreciate you for your talent and not these tweets,’” Estrada recalled explaining.
“And I could just see the distance in his eyes. I wasn’t really talking to the same guy that I had been talking to the week prior, you know, when we were at a couple of shows before.”
The roller coaster of “disconnect” he felt throughout his friendship with Carter left Estrada feeling hopeless.
“There’s these moments that are just distant, and there’s no answer to it,” he said. “Like, there’s nothing I can do other than just be supportive.”
For that reason, Estrada is “honored” to be joining Aaron’s twin sister, Angel Carter, and their older brother, Nick Carter, at next month’s “Songs for Tomorrow” benefit concert.
“I’m gonna do anything that I can to help bring awareness to mental illness,” he said.
Though an official cause of death has not yet been determined, multiple cans of compressed air and prescription pill bottles were reportedly discovered in the bathroom where Aaron’s body was found.
He struggled with mental health issues and addiction for the majority of his life, even once claiming that his late older sister, Leslie Carter, was the person who introduced him to “huffing” when they were teenagers.
Leslie suffered a fatal drug overdose in January 2012.
