Singer says his and his siblings’ issues are deeply rooted in their father’s problems

Sep 24, 2013 11:53 GMT  ·  By

Nick Carter has spent most of his adult life in the spotlight but it’s only as of late that he’s managed to fully understand the impact it had on him. In a new interview with Dr. Phil, the singer opens up on painful topics like the death of his sister, his troubled relationship with his father, and the years he spent struggling with addiction.

For over a decade, Nick used drugs indiscriminately, sometimes to the point where he started thinking he was on the verge of dying, as he writes in his new memoir, “Facing the Music and Living to Talk About It,” which he’s promoting with the aforementioned interview.

He also lived in a very toxic environment, where two other of his four siblings were addicts, and their estranged father was a raging alcoholic.

The two videos embedded below are from the interview. Quotes are available via the Daily Mail.

After his sister’s death, Nick blamed himself for it, in that he wished he had spent more time with her and, perhaps, he could have prevented her from taking her own life, he told Dr. Phil.

However, his family considered him entirely responsible. Things had gotten so “toxic” at home that he decided to sever all ties at least for a while – and he didn’t go to Leslie’s funeral.

“I thought that was unfair. There comes a point where you have to ask yourself if you're hurting them or helping them [by being around]. The reason I did not go... I started to get blamed by the rest of the family for her death,” Nick said.

“I knew she was using. Leslie and I had a very hard relationship our whole life. I wanted nothing but the best for my sister. When it happened, I lay on my shower floor for hours, torn, because I wanted to go to her funeral so badly. It was really tough for me,” he added.

He also said that all his and his siblings’ problems, the fact that they were addicts, stemmed “from the household,” particularly from their relationship with the father.

When Nick started making money, he became the sole provider of the family and his father turned to drinking. The relationship was always strained.

Nick has been sober and clean since 2009. His brother Aaron is also sober, but Nick admitted on Dr. Phil that things between them are still far from perfect.