Leslie Carter is the woman in the middle
We haven’t covered this story yet because it’s sad. Just thinking about it is getting me teary-eyed, particularly these latest details. Leslie Carter, 25, died at home with her parents last week from a reported overdose of prescription drugs to treat mental illness. Leslie is a member of the semi-famous Carter family that was featured in the “House of Carters” reality show on E! in 2006. She was married and leaves behind a 10 month-old daughter. TMZ reported that prior to her death Leslie was living with her family in upstate New York in an attempt to quit using medication she had become dependent on. Her family had left her alone for just an hour and when they returned she was unresponsive.
One of Leslie’s brothers, singer Nick Carter, 32, didn’t make it to her funeral over the weekend. He told TMZ that his family didn’t let him know when or where it was, and plus he had a concert to give. Nick also gave a statement to E! acknowledging the “complicated dynamic” in his family:
The show must go on? Former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter has missed his own sister’s funeral. The singer gave a concert in Philadelphia and hosted a party at an Atlantic City resort on Saturday night, the same evening that funeral proceedings were held for little sister Leslie Carter.
“I wanted to be at my sister’s funeral, but my family has always had a complicated dynamic. I love my family. I want to thank everyone for all of their compassion and support that I have received during this most difficult time. There are so many emotions for me surrounding the loss of my sister. I am trying to stay healthy, positive and focused,” Nick, 32, said in a statement to The Insider.
Separately, Carter told website TMZ that he had wanted to attend the funeral in New York (which was attended by brother Aaron), but that his family had not disclosed the details.
Leslie died suddenly on February 1 from a reported overdose of prescription drugs meant to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Stepmother Ginger Carter told the police that the 25-year-old Leslie had a “long history of mental illness” and that she had appeared depressed the morning that she died.
“Our family is grieving right now and it’s a private matter,” a spokeswoman for the family had said in a statement after news broke. “We are deeply saddened for the loss of our beloved sister, daughter, and granddaughter, Leslie Carter. We request the utmost privacy during this time.”
The troubled Leslie appeared on the family’s reality show, “House of Carter,” in 2006 and aspired to be a singer like her famous older brothers.
[From Huffington Post]
At Nick’s concert he did dedicate a song to Leslie, and some audience members held up pink paper hearts for her. How sad that their family doesn’t get along well enough for Nick to go to his own sisters funeral, or is that a cop out because he was otherwise busy? Couldn’t he just have flown there, and would his family have turned him away at this time? This is tragic story, both in terms of a young woman dying and her family not pulling together after her death. I hope that Nick can reunite with his family somehow. I know in some families there’s just too much to overcome and that even a tragedy can’t make up for the past. With their history there’s probably more than one feud going on.
Header image is from 2006. Other images from 2010 and 2011. Credit: WENN.com
From what I remember their family dynamic was always a little strange. That’s very sad, and i would like to think that he would have made it if he could. i love him lots. went to the NKOTBSB concert last year and loved every minute.
It’s hard to give the benefit of the doubt when he’s looking like he does at the moment. Something is seriously wrong.
I like that his words were “Complicated dynamic”. It is very diplomatic .
Sad.
Indeed. At least I would have been calling and trying. I don’t think he attempted any of that.
It says a lot of this family.
It seems to me no one bothered to tell him when and where the funeral was held and he didn’t make the effort to find out either, which he could have, easily. Very compicated dynamic, I would say.
poor kid!!!
I remember the 20/20 interview from a few years ago and that family dynamic was not healthy. I lost my brother last summer and it would be so devastating not to be invited to the funeral. It was bad enough that my brother’s ex banned us from seeing the children…
This whole story makes me sad. There was also an older article that recently made its way up on Give Me Something to Read about the first time Leslie tried to make a music video with a former p0rner director that also made videos for Brit and Mandy Moore… I read it and it broke my heart. I think her mother and the pressure to be famous really messed her up.
(http://www.esquire.com/ESQ0201-FEB_Greg_Dark_rev#ixzz1lAOOFipE)
ack, I just read that article a couple of days ago too. So creepy and so so sad.
I hope someday their mother will see what she has done to all of her children.
I don’t wanna say he isn’t sad,but saying they didn’t tell him where and when the funeral was is b.s.you call your family and ask if you care….just saying.(from experience)
Sorry, I call BS Nick would rather earn a few dollars on tour then give up a gig and go to his sisters funearl. Even Aaron left his off broadway show to attend.
Just seems like Nick has been an overbearing dick to the family since he held the purse strings for years. Now they are all broke its an even playing field.
On board with what you said. He’s on tour. He knows where his family lives, he could have gone, he just didn’t want to and used the family drama as his convenient excuse. He is totally using again. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see him, too, pass away early from drug and alcohol abuse.
This is kind of morbid, but I’m curious what drugs they claim she overdosed on. I was under the impression that most anti-psychotic meds aren’t likely to be lethal in such a time frame. Some have sedative effects, so I guess that could be lethal, but I figure you would need a fairly high dosage. Clozapine can be lethal, but I don’t think it’s prescribed much for bipolar disorder. Lithium is certainly lethal, but is very closely monitored by the physician/psychiatrist especially in someone with severe depressive episodes and/or suicidality…
This family has such a history of drug abuse/addiction that I wonder whether they’re hiding something. And I wonder whether Nick was left out/didn’t want to attend due to his own addiction issues and how that relates to his sister’s death.
I suppose I shouldn’t really speculate about such a touchy and sad issue though. No matter what, it’s very sad.
I agree. The first thing I thought was, how could any legal anti-psychotic or what have you have THAT kind of effect in just an hour? Unless she knew they were leaving her alone and literally stuffed herself with hundreds of pills, it doesn’t make sense. They would not even have been fully digested/ingested in an hour (I don’t think?)
It seems that there is more to this story.
Three types of drugs were supposidly found near her body (which does not mean the overdose was intentional)
Olanzapine, used to treat symptoms of bipolar disorder, a muscle relaxer and anti-anxiety drug Xanax (link below).
I had assumed that some combinations of drugs in the right amount in some peoples systems can be lethal. My understanding is that a lot of drugs out there can also relax your breathing ability/lung function. Or combine to create toxic combinations.
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/three_kinds_of_pills_found_on_leslie_faq9zCfGY4O4a4u2G4lwJO#ixzz1ljA2lJdh
Good points/info Sam. Isn’t that what happened to Anna Nicole (the slowed breathing thing)?
I work very closely with the medications she overdosed on. The 1st is Zyprexa, typically used for bipolar/schizophrenia. the 2nd was Flexaril, typically prescribed as a muscle relaxer & a drug that people abuse. Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication, is very easily lethal when mixed in high doses of the other medications. The only Rx that I wouldn’t think she ODed on was Zyprexa – more than likely she took a shit load of xanax & flexaril (along with other things not mentioned by the media…just my opinion)
Nearly any medication, prescription or OTC, can be lethal. Some OTC drugs, can be more dangerous than others that are prescription. If what TMZ is reporting is true, then the Flexeril, (muscle relaxer), and Xanax, (anxiety, panic med), together in a large dose would have caused a suppressed respiratory function. Often, addicts like Corey Haim, Anna Nicole, probably Brittany Murphy, become ill with pneumonia, and the strain of the meds added to it, will cause heart failure. Sad story, any way you look at it, and I don’t see where people judge Nick, or anyone else in their family, until they walk a mile in his shoes. I know this is Celebitchy, but some of the comments here are Celec*nty.
Thanks everyone for the info, that makes much more sense.
Very sad.
Two out of the 3 drugs found by police are easily overdosed on. If she were taking both of them at the same time in excess- it would be very easy to die from.
That is so incredibly sad. Just a damn shame all the way around.
Sad. But I don’t think he made a conscious effort to find out either.
It seems very strange. I’ve never paid much attention to them but how sad 🙁 Its never pleasant to lose someone we love and everyone grieves in different ways. I think Nick probably could have found out the details if he really tried and he probably loved his sister and is sad but maybe the family issues just weren’t worth it.
I can see this. I almost happened to my family when my grandfather passed away. We called various family members and were all told the same thing. Then on the day of the memorial service (ie. a few hours before) we were told that the family would be at the graveyard before the church.
It does happen and I am sorry it happened to him.
He looks like he’s a TWEAKER. His face has totally changed (faces of Meth). Maybe that’s why they didn’t want him there. I read that the Step Mother was also barely able to tell officers what happened because she had popped too many pills. Just a sad family.
Reports now are saying her stepmother almost died from taking too many pills. How sad. She just loses her step daughter to pills and then she is taking them in excess as well. Dysfunctional family absolutely.!! I like Nick, but think he could have tried a little harder to be at her funeral.
I finished my will last week and actually put it in the will and have told my daughter (executor) many times, my mother and sister are NOT allowed to come to my funeral. Some family members don’t deserve to be called family, sad but a fact of life. I don’t know whats going on in his family, but I do believe this….you just never know.
i told my parents when they were planning their will that if my sister’s mother showed up I would start the riot act kicking her out if they didn’t specifically write that she couldn’t come. i never knew if they put it in there or not because i dont want to see the will but my husband and my parents don’t put it past me. my dad’s ex wife is a horrible person who enables my now 43 year old sister to do drugs and lose custody of her two boys yet my dad is the bad guy for not sending her “child support” basically bc my sister won’t work or clean up. every family has an interesting dynamic but I hope Nick can visit his sister’s resting place in peace when he is alone.
PREACH!
I totally agree. Some people think the word “family” gives you a pass to behave anyway they want with you ie abuse you. Doing things they would not DREAM of doing or saying to a stranger. But they’ll pontificate about blood is thicker than water.
I believe that blood gives you a greater responsibility towards the other person not less and if you choose not to honor that bond then you do NOT deserve to be part of my family.
Dysfunctional families are only passibly entertaining on television NOT in real life. In real life YOU have to guard your own well being which might mean cutting “family” loose for your own sanity. No one does that lightly but sometimes it’s the only way for you to get on with your life in a healthy fashion. So Kudos to you for doing what you had to.
Julie, you seem like you’re looking forward to pulling the strings on some big family drama you think is going to happen when you die. Totally immature of you … and then to jump online and write about it on some website- are you 12 years old?!?
Here’s what’s really going to happen: you’re gonna die, no one in you family is gonna give a crap ’cause you’ve probably been pulling this childish drama stuff all your life. You’re daughter’s not gonna be half as impressed with being your executor as you think she is and is not gonna give a rat’s ass who shows up at your white trash funeral. When your family finds out how pathetically small your estate is they’re gonna be laughing AT you for decades to come.
Grow up before it’s too late, sister and stop wallowing your adolescent death fantasies (“then they’ll be sorry!!!”)
you’re pathetic.
I don’t know. I’ve cut my brother out of my life after years of abuse (the rest of my family sadly things I need to ‘get over it’ even though the things he did were truly terrible) but I did go to my grandpa’s funeral despite him being there. Because I loved Grandpa.
Oh and I went to my brother’s wedding too, because my mom and sister told me that I had no choice and they would never speak to me again if I didn’t. So I went even though I was crying and vomiting from anxiety about it. Family…
His is typical addict behavior. Everything is always somebody else’s fault. They didn’t tell me so I couldn’t go. If he’d wanted to be there, he would have made it happen. Even with difficult family dynamics, it really just comes down to that.
No; it is not that simple. When you have an estranged family situation, then you can comment. otherwise, don’t assume. for those of us who are estranged from our family [and i personally am not an addict, or a cheat, or anything, and have a nice family of my own], it’s very painful going through life in this way. it’s also why i empathized with Jolie when she was not talking w/her dad.
There ARE times when, for your own sanity and well being, you cannot interact with people in your family. It is an act of self preservation and self respect, frankly.
So, who knows for sure with this guy-but ‘judge not lest ye be judged’ comes to mind, for people who say ‘it’s family, blah blah blah, you make the effort’.
you don’t know, unless you have walked a mile in someone else’s shoes.
And some of these comments are not gossip. They are just uninformed.
You may not be an addict; he is. Evading responsibility for one’s own actions is a hallmark of addictive behavior. He could have chosen to simply say that he was mourning his sister in his own way, or that the family situation made it impossible to be there. He didn’t. He said it was their fault, that he would have been there except for the behavior of others. Those of us who are related to addicts are very familiar with this behavior.
It has been said that Nick financilly cut his family off a while ago and cleaned up and his family isn’t happy about the cash flow stopping. if you look at Nick now versus 2 years ago you can tell he’s in a better place. Aaron on the other hand… yeah not so clean. Drugs are a scary mess and anyone who votes on legalizing them has never seen the devastation of stuff like meth or coke or heroin on a community. I think we need drug laws like thailand or China.
Forget how it makes his family sound. It makes HIM sound like a douche.
He doesn’t look healthy. Is he on drugs too?
This seems like a pretty unhealthy family and there’s probably blame on all sides.
thank you for at least reporting this with a sense of compassion. I can’t imagine the grief, because no matter the “dysfunction”, families in grief need eachother. I wouldn’t be able to live with missing a love ones funeral, it’s hard to understand. Also, the BSB have each individually haulted tours before (Brian’s Heart surgury, Injuries, AJ’s rehabilitation, etc) – maybe contract stipulations were put into place to prevent this for Nick? How cruel would that be..
Anyways, thanks for at least posting this with some heart. I’m so sick of people judging and name-calling and finger-pointing. VERY little has been said by anyone in the family, as it should be – and no one can truly feel their pain/understand.. Peace
All I know is I can’t tolerate flexeril at all. I took a normal dose of it and couldn’t sleep till the effects wore off because I kept feeling like I was gasping for air every time I started to drift off to sleep. Scary feeling!
How sad for that family:(
I bet his concert was pay-or-play and he couldn’t afford to skip it.
This is just so sad. Nick didn’t make an effort and the Carter’s didn’t tel him but then again I bet it was Aaron who didn’t want Nick at the funeral,Aaron was always jealous of Nick for some reason and always wanted to be like him.Aaron is such a tool.I always loved Nick 4rm Backstreet Boys day,and he was the sensible carter, now wondering what the hell happened to him,he was and still is handsome but he looks like he is sick and on drugs and trying to hide his face with manbangs,anyhow one comment above pointed out that he is not on drugs, enough of my ramblings…