THE late Aaron Carter's friend and manager Taylor Helgeson is responding to criticism that he didn't do enough for the 34-year-old musician, who had fought with drug and alcohol addictions for much of his too-short life. Carter died on Nov 5.
“It seems like people are more upset that we didn’t publicly expose him. Why would you do that? To somebody you care about? If you really want to help them, you talk in private,“ Helgeson told Yahoo Entertainment.
“And Aaron had real friends, real family. We talked much in private. We did a lot of work. You know, 2017, we had to take him to treatment. We did that.”
Helgeson had known Carter for many years and collaborated with him on his 2018 album Love, co-writing some of the songs and travelling with him. He stated that Carter asked him to assist him in managing him in the previous year.
He said: “We know what we tried. We know what we did. I sleep easy at night knowing I tried my best for my friend until he died.”
He added: And there’s a helplessness that comes with watching somebody go through addiction.”
Helgeson saw his friend for the last time at a recording studio, where they were planning to collaborate on a sequel to Love, two days before his death.
Helgeson admits that he misses Carter but does not blame him for his addiction. He wants everyone to know that his friend was more than what they believe.
