Angel Carter Conrad is all too familiar with grief, but she learned how to turn her pain into action after the deaths of her sister Leslie in 2012, twin brother Aaron in 2022, and sister Bobbie Jean just a year ago.
Conrad, 37, supports the nonprofit Children’s Mental Health Foundation in hopes of equipping other children with the skills they need to protect themselves and nurture their minds — something she and her siblings struggled with growing up.
“Within my grief, I found a lot of peace and a lot of hope working with the Children’s Mental Health Foundation,” Conrad tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I’m volunteering my time, raising awareness, raising funds for this organization and just continuing the conversation about mental health and the stigma that surrounds it.”
(Top L-R) Singer Aaron Carter and Nick Carter, (Bottom L-R) Bobbie Jean Carter, Leslie Carter and Angel Carter on September 29, 2006 in New York.
Kristy Leibowitz/Getty
Angel Carter Opens Up About Twin Brother Aaron Carter’s Memory For Her Daughter (Exclusive)
In her quest to end what she calls “generational dysfunction” in her family, Conrad also says she’s educating herself about the disease that plagued her loved ones: addiction.
“A few years before Aaron passed away, he told me something that stuck with me, and he said, ‘Angel, you just don’t know enough about addiction.’ And it hit me in the heart, especially after he passed away because I didn’t [know enough]” she admits. “For the last few years, I’ve just really been trying to educate myself about this disease and how it affects people and how it causes things that they do that maybe they don’t intend to do.”
Learning about addiction while working to improve children’s mental health is shown in Conrad’s conversation with his own 5-year-old daughter, Harper. While she makes sure the conversations are digestible and appropriate for the age of the kindergartener, Conrad emphasizes that “setting boundaries” for Harper is still of utmost importance to her as a parent.
“That wasn’t done in my home growing up: providing a safe space for her discipline and letting her have her innocence,” says Conrad, who shares Harper with husband Corey Conrad. “I look back at Aaron’s life, as well as me and my sisters, and our innocence was taken from us. Especially Aaron, being a child star and working as an adult in the entertainment industry. I think the most important thing is that my child is protected by his innocence and can grow and learn and try new things and become the person he wants to be one day.”
Conrad also says her grief is anything but “linear.” Some days are better than others, and with each anniversary that passes to remind her of the losses she’s suffered, she decides to honor her late siblings.
“I have so many losses in my life, now I know what to expect to a certain extent and I want to continue to honor my family. So in those moments on those anniversaries — Aaron and I just had a birthday, we just turned 37 — and really just I try to be at peace and in the moment as much as I can and just honor them by talking to them and letting them continue to be present in my life,” she says.
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Bobbie Jean Carter, Nick Carter, Leslie Carter, Angel Carter and Aaron Carter arrive at the Style Network Party At The Summer TCA Tour on July 11, 2006 in Pasadena, California.
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Conrad manages his grief by keeping the memory of his siblings alive in the next generation of family, in everyone from Harper, who “knows who Uncle Aaron is and she knows Aunt Leslie and she knows her Aunt Bobbie Jean,” Conrad tells his siblings. children too.
“With Prince, he lives locally, so he knows Harper, we have playdates and he’s so smart. I mean, this kid is brilliant. He’s only 3 years old and he’s already reading and writing and he just blows me away,” Konrad says of Aronov. son.
She says she is also involved in the lives of Leslie’s teenage daughter Alyssa and Bobbie Jean Belle’s 9-year-old daughter.
“I have a relationship with all my nieces and nephews. That’s very important [to me] because I want to show them that there is a life lesson to be learned here with the tragedies that have happened,” she says. “The choice is to look at the good in every situation — because there is always good — and focus on that and nurture that. I want to teach these kids that bad things can happen to you, but it’s how you handle it that matters.”
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Now, on the one-year anniversary of Bobbie Jean’s death, Conrad remembers her “mama bear” big sister as a loving and funny person.
“BJ didn’t ask for what happened to her and it wasn’t her fault and she didn’t deserve it,” Conrad says of her sister’s untimely death. “I want people to remember her as a human being who deserves to be loved.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the SAMHSA Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education