Robert Gene Carter, dad to Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter and actor/musician Aaron Carter, passed away on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, at 65 years old. Robert, known as Bob, appeared alongside his sons on the 2006 E! reality show “House of Carters,” featuring their other siblings, sisters Angel (twin to Aaron) and Bobbie. However, it was the death of Aaron Carter in 2022 that reignited public interest in the family.
Who Was Robert Gene Carter?
Robert Gene Carter and his wife, Jane Elizabeth Carter, were famous for being parents to Aaron Carter and Nick Carter. Robert was born on September 23, 1952, in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York.
He suddenly died of a heart attack in Orlando, Florida, on May 16, 2017. Per TMZ, sources close to the family said that Robert had complained of chest pains and twitching in his arm the night before he died.
Following Robert’s death, his children honored his final wishes of being cremated. They even added a personal twist to his wishes, as reported by TMZ. Not only was Bob cremated, and his ashes spread on the Gulf Coast near Key West, Florida, as requested, but they were combined with his late daughter, Leslie Carter, who died in 2012. According to the report, Leslie was also cremated after her death, but her husband held onto her ashes until Robert’s death.
How Did Robert Gene Carter’s Death Affect Aaron Carter?
Before Robert died in 2017, the Carter family had been plagued with many woes, especially regarding his sons. Following his death, his son Aaron Carter also died. But before Aaron’s death, he blamed himself for his father and sister’s death.
In 2019, two years after Robert’s death, Aaron discussed his grief in an episode of WE tv’s “Marriage Boot Camp: Family Edition.” “I felt like I’d been responsible for the death of my sister, for the death of my dad, for my family falling apart,” he confessed.
His mother, Jane, also appeared on the show and shared her thoughts. “I think that’s one of the things that hurts Aaron the most. He was so busy with his life that he wasn’t there, and I think he wanted to be there for them. He feels like he could’ve done something more in his heart,” she said.
In the wake of his death in November 2022, a source close to Aaron told People that he struggled with the losses until the end. “Aaron never really dealt with a lot of trauma he had,” the source said. “He was torn up when Leslie died, but Bob’s death threw him.”
Losing his father was very hard on Aaron, according to the insider. “That’s when I saw him start to spiral. He had gotten in trouble before. But he went from a partier to something a lot darker then,” he said, adding, “It was like he gave up.”
Timeline of Troubles in Robert Gene Carter’s Family
Most people think that the origin of the Robert Gene Carter family woes started and ended with Aaron Carter. But that is not true. Nick Carter was involved in several misdemeanors before Aaron’s issues began.
Nick Carter was arrested in a nightclub in Tampa, Florida, in 2002 when he was 21 years old, for refusing to leave after being ordered to do so by local police following a loud argument with an unidentified woman.
The singer was arrested on drunk driving charges in Huntington Beach, California, on March 5, 2005. After failing a field sobriety test, he was booked on a misdemeanor DUI charge and released several hours later.
When Nick Carter was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, he confessed he struggled with substance abuse throughout the 2000s, resulting in numerous legal troubles and health problems. He seems to have turned his life around.
But Aaron could not do so before his death. His problems with his family date back to 2003. At the time, Aaron Carter alleged that his mother, Jane, had removed more than $100,000 from his bank account without permission. In 2006, brothers Aaron and Nick faced off in a fistfight before the premiere of their reality show, House of Carters.
Aaron and Robert also had a complicated relationship.
“We’ve had some callous times,” Bob told People in 2008. “There’s a lot of pitfalls to growing up in the public eye.” He also claimed that Aaron’s managers were “trying to convince him that I’m the reason he’s going broke. It’s false; I don’t live off Aaron’s money.”
Sadly, neither Aaron, Nick, nor Robert could resolve their differences while Aaron and Robert lived, and they never will.